Shop Our Newest Holiday Products Online!

The holidays have hit our Online Boutique with a selection of vintage inspired ornaments and festive decor. Whether you are giving or receiving, we have all your Christmas needs, here at The Paris Market. 

Beaded Snowflake Ornament

Swiss Cow Bell

Tidings Tree

Stag Horn Antler

Woodland Animal Ornament

Metallic Garden Ball Ornament

Antiqued Jeweled Star Ornament

Lusterware Ball Ornament

Stag Wall Hook

Carved Mushroom Ornament

Felted Narwhal Ornament

Glittered Pinecone Ornament

Fringed Paper Tree

See what other products have made their way to our Online Shop!

Tis the Season for some Holiday Home Decor cheer!

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Wrap it Up with our Favorite Festive Papers

Keep your new treasures under wraps with our selection of holiday themed papers! 

Who says gift wrap can't be a gift itself!

We know your closets are already stuffed full with Black Friday Finds and Santa-worthy Scores!

Stop by the Paris Market and give your packages the pretty paper they deserve!

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Postcards from Paris:{derrière les vitrines au Bon Marché}

It’s my third holiday-season in Paris. The feeling is similar each year with the familiar scents of chestnuts roasting outside of the grand department stores, snowflake motifs strung across all of the market streets, the trees that line the avenues and boulevards have lost most of their autumn leaves, and are now embellished with festive white-strung lights. There is comfort found in such efforts.

Instead of going late last night, I decided to awaken early while it was still dark to look at the Christmas windows at Le Bon Marché. It’s quiet in the mornings before the rush-hour traffic in the metro begins and long before the stores open their doors to welcome the holiday shoppers. With my early-morning ambitions I was hoping for inspired displays. I was hoping for something that didn’t emphasize commercialism, but instead captured a feeling of Christmas in Paris. Too often holiday displays exhaust labels and brands, making Christmas seem daunting and unaffordable. So I was pleasantly surprised to see how Le Bon Marché managed to capture the feeling I wanted to elaborate on: Christmas in Paris.

Well-known monuments such as the Eiffel tower, Invalides, and Le Bon Marché itself were featured, framed by the famous zinc rooftops. After three years, it’s possible to consider these things as ‘normal’, but something as simple and obvious as scenes of Paris were just what I needed to appreciate the season and the present. Because finding an escape can be nice and necessary, but perhaps the escape we need is to appreciate the present and the magic of the season.
Here’s to December almost here, and a month full of magic.

Bisous,
Reba

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Preserving the World of Letterpress

Here at The Paris Market, we take delight in finding beauty in the dusty, dirty, and sometimes forgotten items of the past. The Art of Letterpress has always been close to our hearts (and on our shelves) since our doors opened. We carry a variety of beautifully aged woodblock letters, symbols, and stamps that are cultivated by our customers and treasured local artists. Sadly the World of Letterpress is slowly being forgotten, preserved by a few bright spirits who dedicate their lives to keeping alive this incredible Art. 

A little about Letterpress

Wood has been used for letterforms and illustrations dating back to the first known Chinese wood block print from 868 CE. The forerunner of the block print in China was the wooden stamp. The image on these stamps was most often that of the Buddha, and was quite small. Provided with handles to facilitate their use, they were not unlike the modern rubber-stamps of today. In Europe, large letters used in printing were carved out of wood because large metal type had a tendency to develop uneven surfaces, or crack, as

it cooled.

In America, with the expansion of the commercial printing industry in the first years of the 19th century, it was inevitable that someone would perfect a process for cheaply producing the large letters so in demand for broadsides. Wood was the logical material because of its lightness, availability, and known printing qualities.

Established and managed by the Two Rivers Historical Society, the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum is in its thirteenth year as a living museum. The Museum is operated by staff and volunteers of the Two Rivers Historical Society, many of whom are part of the history of Hamilton, as former employees.

The Museum, at 40,000 square feet, is no doubt one of the largest fully functional workshops in the world. Not only do the thousands of visitors who come through every year get to see how wood type was made at the foundry, students, artists, typographers and designers visit to take workshops and actually put their hands on and use the collection to create works of art and scholarship in our pressroom at the Museum. To be able to use the type and cuts and a press to make a print can broaden a design student's understanding of typography and color and layout, and artists make work with wood type that would have surprised and delighted Ed Hamilton, the company's founder.

They are housed in an original Hamilton building that dates from 1927.

Paris Market Graphic Design Gal, Monica, recently took a trip to Two Rivers to visit the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum. Here are some of her photos from, what she calls it, an unforgettable experience.

Do Your Part to Save this Lost Art

Hamilton is being forced to move, perhaps as soon as mid-February. The owners of their building have given them 90 days to pack and vacate the building. They have little or no money to do this and no place to move to. They are attempting to raise $250,000 in short order to get 30,000 sq. feet of printing history packed up and ready for a new home, wherever that may be. 

PLEASE consider a donation today. 

You can download a donation form here or click below to give online. View the official press release here.

To learn more about Wood Type, The Museum, and the Journey of this Lost Art, visit here.

Join the Paris Market in our efforts to help save the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum and preserve the world of Letterpress by donating today!

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Postcards from Paris:{Le Piano Vache}

"What is this Piano Cow you mentioned?"

A small bar, crowded but better described as cosy, full of some regulars and some exchange students from the Sorbonne who come chaque lundi soir to listen to three Django Reinhardt enthusiasts strum away like madmen. Middle-aged with physical characteristics that match their instruments, there hasn’t been a Monday evening where any of them have seemed bored to be there. If I didn’t know better I’d imagine these guys passing Tuesday through Sunday with anticipation only to come back to Monday where they could happily twiddle their fingers along the silver plated copper strings.

To avoid being scolded by the bar owner whose only reprimand in English is, “shut the hell up” the audience remains silent, nursing their drinks and only applauding after each five minute jam has been wrapped up, or right in the middle after one of the three musicians does something incredible. For instance the upright bass player, heavy-set like the physique of his instrument will move his fingers so quickly with complete control over the heavy strings that one can’t help but applaud like mad after he slows down and gives the other guys the spotlight. Their passion is impressive, and one would assume that good ole’ Django Reinhardt would agree.

Who exactly is this Django Reinhardt you mentioned?
Django Reinhardt’s story is pretty unique. He was born in Belgium to Manouche gypsy parents, spending most of his childhood in Romani-gypsy encampments outside of Paris. From an early age Reinhardt was interested in music, and he was able to make an earning from his self-taught talent by the age of thirteen. At 18, he lived through a fire that could have easily given him the excuse to never play again; yet never ceasing he continued to play after two of his fingers were severely burned. Inspired by Louis Armstrong and American jazz, Reinhardt developed a style of playing guitar all his own, jazz manouche-gypsy jazz.

The music is comforting and charming in that golden-age-of-another-time sort of sense. I don’t go every Monday evening, but when I find myself a bit fatigue of big-city discouragements I head across over to the left bank, and let Le Piano Vache charm me with its enthused jazz manouche.

Bisous,
Reba

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Artist Spotlight: Love Lane Designs

Love Lane Designs byline is "Handprinted with Heart", and if you know Lane Huerta or have bought her products you would agree that this phrase sums her up perfectly. Lane's creations fuse vintage design and edgy functionality. From linens to pillows to larger custom pieces, her work will brighten any home with a unique blend of kitschy themes, classic patterns, and polished craftsmanship. We are proud to have worked with Lane on a multitude of products here at the Paris Market. Her recent mention in the local paper have her fans and her friends even more enamored with the world of Lane Huerta and her "Handprinted with Heart" creations.

For more about Lane and her work visit here.

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What we're thankful for...

Wishing you a Thanksgiving Day of festive family, unforgettable feasts and full bellies!

Here is what some of our staff is thankful for on this very special holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving from The Paris Market!

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Postcards from Paris: {Un Week-end à Provence}

 

When I think of the colors associated with Thanksgiving, warm autumn tones come to mind; ochre, perhaps a neutral beige, an array or reds and oranges, and some neutral greens, an olive green perhaps. I think of fallen acorn leaves and blue, crisp skies.

That is also what I think of when I think of Provence in Fall.
This past weekend I had the chance to revisit the small village of Lacoste. It’s been 5 years since I was there with a memorable group of SCAD students. We made that medieval village our home for two months, and I find myself sentimental thinking back on those times. What was strange was stumbling upon the new set of SCAD students who turned Lacoste into their own. I was but a last minute addition to their stress and end-of-the-quarter anticipation to join friends and family back home for Thanksgiving.

Lacoste belonging to Provence and Provence belonging to the poets and writers, past and present who find themselves inspired by such golden scenery, make it a comforting escape away from the city-life in Paris. Friends back in the capital texted me to inform me of rain and lingering grey skies while I took long strolls from the Lacoste hilltop through the valley and to the top of the neighbouring village of Bonnieux.

One of my favourite parts of the weekend was the scent of smoke. Some of the vines in the valley were being burned after their harvests, and I would wake up to the smell of burning leaves. Scattered throughout the panoramic view of Provence, each morning the smoke would mix with the fog.  It was difficult to tell the difference between the two until the fog cleared and the smoke remained resonating throughout the landscape. I felt nostalgic with the lingering scent and walking along the paths I had taken five years earlier I recalled so many precious memories with dear friends. Any longing emotions I felt for a time-passed turned into appreciation for the time present and the many good friendships and experiences that have occurred since.
Now I am back in Paris and though I am sad to be so far away from my family I am grateful for small simple moments that make the present so special. I look forward to an orphan Thanksgiving with Americans and Canadians and French, pilgrims, Indians, and dear friends alike; where we can come together, count our blessings and be thankful for good company, good food, good conversations, and great memories.
I wish you all just the same, a wonderful time filled with gratitude alongside family and friends.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Bisous,
Reba

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