Tuesday, June 8, 2010




I missed the stationary show this year due to a trip abroad. My trip to Paris inspired visions of paperies. I mean, Kate’s Paperie here in NYC is an amazing card shop in which I can do major damage. (Review to come soon!) So, when I was dreaming of how my trip in Paris would go, you can imagine how excited I was. In my mind, I saw myself strolling along the Seine or the Avenue des Champs-Elysées, croissant in hand with a basket of fresh raspberries and an Orangina and chancing upon a myriad of quaint paperies and stationary stores. Perhaps I would find a shop with cards that had been using the same letterpress imprints on thick paper milled with cotton fibers in addition to smooth wood pulp that would equal a card of such beauty that I would be inspired to pick up calligraphy just to do such a wonderful piece of beauty justice.
Ahem.
Well, that’s not exactly how it went. For one thing, I did not really plan ahead as much as you might imagine I would on my first jaunt to Europe. My strolls failed to produce quite the quality of paper goods that I was hoping for. The best shop that I found for cards was a gift shop:

Les Fruits du Temps
80 Rue Saint-Louis en l'Ile, 75004 Paris, France

This was in a somewhat touristy area, but the card was a lot of fun. They sold a myriad of goods here. The quality was much like that of a Hallmark store. While mass produced there are still some lovely gems and pieces of beauty and humor.
I do plan to travel back to Paris again one day. Next time I will do my research ahead of time, as I know my mythical stationary store is out there, waiting for me to stroll in there.