Mini Shopshoot - La Galerie Vegetale

Mini Shopshoot - La Galerie Vegetale

• 18 Aug 2010

When I decided to go to Paris I sent out an open invitation to my friends to join me. I hoped to rent an apartment for a week to house the throng. In the end 2 of my friends from Sydney joined me and we downsized to a few rooms at the Hotel Taylor.

It's always hard choosing a hotel from a website but in this case the Hotel Taylor's rooms looked exactly like the rooms featured on the website. We loved the area, which was close to to Canal St Martin and Republique but far away from the tourist crowds. We also discovered some great restaurants nearby.



Last Christmas I bought Pia Jane Bijkerk's book Paris Made by Hand for my friend 'Little One', hoping it would encourage her to join me in Paris. In case you don't know who Pia is, she worked as a stylist in Sydney before moving first to Paris and then to Amsterdam. Paris Made by Hand is filled with interesting shops she found in Paris, tucked away in out of the way places. Pia has since written Amsterdam Made by Hand. I'm planning to visit Amsterdam next June and can't wait to visit some of Pia's secret shopping locations whilst there.

Well 'Little One' did meet me in Paris and to my great delight I found she'd packed the book in her luggage. While she was having a little nap one afternoon, (I'm a relentless tour guide) I pored over the book and decided on a wander around Canal St. Martin.



The first place we visited was inexplicably shut, which does tend to happen in Paris. We didn't reach the second place on our list until after 5.00 p.m and they'd closed for the day. Finally we found a place that was open, La Galerie Vegetale. I'd walked past the shop every day I'd been in Paris but had never been inside.



What did I find inside? An intriguing blend of cafe, florist shop, gallery and homewares emporium.



They had lots of lovely things but with limited space in our luggage, we had to be sensible with our purchases. We both bought some pots made from recycled rubber and I bought a small pebble shaped vase which one day I'll get round to photographing. 

2014 edit - unfortunately La Galerie Vegetale has closed for business.











After La Galerie Vegetale we walked to Emmanuelle Wittman's Atelier where we both admired her ethereal ceramics.



I didn't take any photos there as my job was to support 'Little One' in the onerous task of choosing which items to purchase. Emmanuelle has the most hilarious little puppy called Gaia who entertained us with her antics whilst we were deliberating.

Last stop of the day was Le Petit Atelier in the Marais but that's a story for another day. I'll be back again on Friday with some more photos from Paris.

Until then,

Jillian