Ma Cocotte: new restaurant in the Paris markets of St-Ouen

This summer in Paris, my best find has been Ma Cocotte, the fantastic restaurant in la puces de Clignancourt et St-Ouen.  This new place to eat makes a pleasant change to the more traditional restaurant fare in this little corner of Paris.  Annually so many people make a pilgrimage to the most famous of Paris' flea markets, that frankly it was about time that a beautiful and modern Paris restaurant has found it way there!

{image vintage finds}

Created from the ground up by French design royalty Philippe Starck, equally well known as an interior designer and for his industrial design and consumer goods, this restaurant could never fail to please visually.  And it also hits the mark wonderfully for a perfect lunch time meal on a sunny Sunday stroll at the markets!

{image unknown source}

Starck has personally sourced items from the flea markets of St-Ouen - thus - far from creating a modern restaurant at odds with it's surroundings - the restaurant sits so comfortably within the markets of Paul Bert and Serpette you could think it is a newly opened vintage store!

Starck in his restaurant

His inspiration was the dealers' own lunch time meal tables laid out to share with their friends, their laughter and chatter.  He wanted a place of his own to eat on his regular trips to the markets, with his own friends to share laughter and chatter.  From this modest plan, comes the transformation of an industrial building to a 'market must-do'!

{image Sarah Lavoine}

And hopefully you won't be as naive as I am, to the video art installation! On the back wall, against the natural bricks are two artworks framed identically, one photographic, or rather I thought both were - until the image of a person leaning on the glass partition appeared different each time I looked away and then looked back!

{image via Ma Cocotte}

The surprise downstairs in this vintage styling utopia, are that the bathrooms are a sea of utilitarian white tile and 'public bathhouse' styling that have been said to resemble something from Kubrick's 2001!

{image The Wall Street Journal}

Last year when I was there this building at the entrance to the Paul-Bert market could have been mistaken for a cement parking garage.  Starck refers to the building as a 'monopoly house' which now houses this two-story hip restaurant with so much Parisian design cred.

From the vintage furniture selection to the wood and steel panel lift garage doors, a contemporary and deliciously simple menu, arranged to share with friends; this is an exciting new addition to the traditional brasserie fare of St-Ouen.

Hope you take the time to enjoy on your next visit!
Jennifer.
x


MA COCOTTE
106, Rue des Rosiers 94400 Saint-Ouen
T: 01 49 51 70 00

OPEN DAILY
12pm to 3pm and 7pm to 11pm Weekdays
8am to 11pm Saturday and Sunday

In Store Now ... Hand sewn linen cushion covers

These are just the sweetest cushion covers or pillow shams that I found in a market stall in Porte de Vanves.  The hand sewn thread work is just so well done, and also as it came from an attic sale, you can tell these would have been turn of the last century.

I must admit when I bought them I thought they were folded lengths of embroidered antique linens with some drawn-thread work.

When I got them home, on closer inspection, I can see they are the most delightful cushion covers.  All hand sewn - included the tiny button holes.  What a lost art that is!  To delicately and oh so neatly sew these for tiny buttons.

I have six of these in store now.  They are a large size and measure 68 cms across including the flange, and would fit a 55cm x 55cm sized cushion insert.

Back home again

Isn't wonderful to travel ... to anywhere ... for any amount of time.

A country stay for the weekend, ... the beach for a day, ... or a work trip to country France and Paris for a couple of weeks.  Your heart soars, your mind clears and the ideas flow so fast!  And you are so determined to cling on to this 'new state' of mind on your return....

Eiffel Tower in Rain, David Lebovitz

But once the unpacking is done and you're back into your normal routine, whatever that entails, the 'envigorated mind' starts to settle and it begins to feel that you never went anywhere!

I've been back home to Brisbane for a couple of weeks, and have made lots of notes of ideas and creative influences - I am hoping that my buying trip will stay fresh for a little while longer.  I met so many creative people with many different ideas for me that they were perfectly willing to share - I truly hope to just capture one or two of these!

That is what I love most about what I do, it is the wonderful people I meet and that cross my path in this new venture!  My customers are such wonderful souls, from all over, and I love hearing their stories of their ideas and what they are looking for and sharing the history (as much as I can) on the pieces I find.

Normandy

And the dealers, shippers and other contacts I have met are some fabulous like-minded and extremely creative individuals both here in Australia and overseas - it's such a treat to be able to catch up and see some of them each time I return to France.  And it's so wonderful to have the opportunity to reinvigorate friendships from when I lived in London many (many) years ago.

9.00pm: Last night in Paris ... out to dinner with friends.

Isn't it amazing how our furniture and interiors, around the world, can start conversations of our hopes and dreams for our lives...

Thankyou, merci, for your comments and requests and suggestions!  All the best for the start of your week!  I hope you can retain a little magic from your own last 'escape'.

Jennifer.
x

Jardin du Luxembourg

Brocante markets ... Marché aux Puces

When you think of Paris antique or brocante markets, you naturally think of the sprawling and warren-like acres filling the Marché aux Puces (flea markets) of Clignancourt and St-Ouen to the north of Paris.  The prices are quite high here, but there is bargaining to be done, and shipping is very convenient with several shipping companies having their offices in the markets themselves.

Fossicking around out here in the heat can be hard, and I much prefer to come here in the cooler months.  This market is actually a serious of smaller markets that each tend to have a certain style.  Within each of these market streets or buildings there are dealer stalls and shops.  The Marché Vernaison, off rue des Rosiers is what you would think of as a Paris brocante market, where you find yourself winding around small twisting alleyways and hope that you pop out somewhere you recognise!  There is such a varied mix of items in mostly original condition, and is a brocante hunters heaven.

Others of these markets are within larger buildings with the dealers having more usual 'shop spaces' such as in a shopping mall.  Most dealers stock a 'Paris style' mix of industrial and antique furniture and items, however, many dealers can be extremely specific as to what they stock: be it artwork, architectural fragments, vast fireplaces, silverware, vintage clothing per a specific label Paris label, or Hermes handbags.

Steel buckets from a disused water-wheel, converted to a vertical garden of ivy.

Two matching clocks from a church.

Paul Bert is my personal favourite, as it is more open (and a little cooler at the moment!) with some great stall-owners I keep returning to see.   I love going mid-morning on a Friday.  Most dealers are open but the weekend crowds usually haven't arrived yet, so dealers have time for a chat.

It takes days to cover much of this landscape and because the dealers are each so specialised there are sometimes some amazing items and sights to be had!  And to keep up my energy I love to stop for a mid-morning crepe at one of the vendors, or a coffee and snack at Le Voltaire (corner of rue Voltaire and rue des Rosiers).  In beautiful weather,  I aim to stop for lunch and sit outside in the gorgeous weather at Bistrot Le P'tit Landais (96 rue des Rosiers) at the far entrance to the Paul Bert market.  

There is heaps of information on these markets on the internet (you could start at the St Ouen Tourism website), and there are also market guides you can find (for a fee) who are able to steer you straight to what you want!  Happy hunting!

Jennifer.

Here and away ... ici et là

Yes, I have been remiss in my blogging obligations for a week or so!  Have been busy with preparations for the upcoming buying trip, and making plans for both here and overseas while I am away.  My darling husband is going to 'work part-time' while I am away; dropping the boys to school in the morning and then picking them up in the afternoon and taking them to their after-school activities.

When I go, I usually have a meticulously-organised and very complex web of pickups and drop-offs - with help gratefully accepted from our friends and parents!  Mon mari has passed on all this and wants to go it alone and spend this time with his boys.

It's hard to think that for two weeks they will be fine without me!  And meanwhile, as busy as my overseas schedule is, I will be missing them each like crazy....

Anyway I promise to post lots more over the coming weeks.  There will be so much to see and share! Markets in Normandy, food and coffee and hopefully opera in Paris, and friends haunts in London.

More soon!

Jennifer.

x

Markets from past trips

Paris

To source my 'vintage finds', I travel to Paris twice per year, as well as scouring local auctions for vintage items nearer to home in Brisbane, Australia!

I am planning my next buying trip and so to draw some inspiration have thought I would share with you some of my travel snaps from last year .....

Enjoy,
Jennifer.