Astier de Villatte is one of my favorite home shops in Paris and I am always delighted when I go in there, because I find something that surprises and amuses me, much like a kid discovering new toys at a toy store.
Their specialty is beautifully crafted white china and ceramic pieces. They range from simple over sized dinner plates to teacups with ornate curlyque handles. Deep brown wood shelves strikingly contrast the white stacks of dishes, bowls, plates and egg cups, making them even more palatable. Most clever is their newest item, old-fashioned tin cans made of white ceramic or gold and silver. Astier de Villatte is reminiscent of a favorite shop of mine in New York’s Soho from the 1990’s, called Wolfman Gold, which only sold white china.
After swooning over the china and ceramics for the first few minutes of my visit, I moved on to admiring the jewelry, hand knit scarves & ties, candles, and furniture. A stunning new line of porcelain jewelry by Claire Hecquet Chaut featuring chains of hearts, butterflies, crosses, and guitars in sumptuous shades of chartreuse, lavender, sunshine yellow, pale pink, and periwinkle, is a knockout.
One of the reasons I love the shop is because you can buy inexpensive and fun things like a stereoscope viewfinder with corny Paris photos (9 euros) and small wood boxes with illustrations of chicks and bunny’s filled with candied violets (12 euros), or a fabulous wall unit of odd draws stacked in a haphazard way for thousands of euros.
If anybody ever wants to buy me a gift, something from Astier de Villatte would make me very happy, preferably that fabulous wall unit.
Astier de Villatte
173 rue St. Honoré, 1st arr.
Metro: Palais Royale
Open Monday to Saturday, 11AM –7:30PM
Tel 01.42.60.74.13
www.astierdevillatte.com
Buy me this, PLEASE!
Salt n' Pepa(Does anybody know what happened to them?)
R-
I love this store!
I want one of those porcelain feet! What a great sculptural/objet/thing for the coffee table.
Posted by: Diogenes | March 16, 2008 at 03:03 AM
This is one of my favorite stores in Paris! I have a budding collection of their porcelain. maybe I'll head over there this week to add to it :)
Posted by: maitresse | March 24, 2008 at 06:32 PM