France
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[review] World Biennial of Art Bookbinding 2024
I wasn’t supposed to go to the World Biennial of Art Bookbinding in 2024 because I was staying in the northern suburbs of Paris and had to go all the way to the end of the RER B line to attend. But a Vietnamese bookbinder won a prize and a mutual friend put us in touch. I went mainly as a favor. I did enjoy it a bit, but I’m glad I combined the trip with another event in Paris because 3 hours round-trip for that alone would have put me off. It’s a bookbinding competition open to everyone: professionals and amateurs. Everyone has to bind exactly the same book…
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A Summer in France (2024): DIY, Gifts, and Luxury
It’s becoming almost a habit: every summer, we look after my sister’s cat(s) while she’s on vacation. We make the most of our time in France to: When I came back from Vietnam, I brought back a ton of leatherworking tools. Honestly, as I was storing these tools in my sister’s basement, I wondered what had come over me to buy so much. But then, when I started making my second and third leather bags, these tools made my work so much easier that I no longer regretted buying them. Since we had to go to Paris three days a week for the Olympics, I worked on my leatherworking projects…
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Meet Amina Chevaillier from Ak Yol Atelier – Luxury Leather Goods
I’ve known Amina virtually for several years. I was lucky enough to stumble upon her Instagram as soon as I got into luxury leather craftsmanship. It was under the Parisian rain that we met in person for the first time. Our beautiful hand-stitched bags in luxury leathers (alligator, novonappa, shell cordovan) were thankfully not mistreated 😀 A big fan of leather, Amina first trained in leather crafting on her own. To perfect her skills, she joined the Hermès house, which is constantly looking for skilled artisans for their workshops across France. Out of 3000 candidates, after a 4-month selection process, only about twenty were accepted, and among them was Amina.…
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Where to Buy Leather in Paris? For Leather Goods & Bookbinding
La Trouvaille Located in the heart of the Paris flea markets, they offer fancy and basic leathers, braids, metallic fabrics, by the piece or in bulk.If you need specific leathers, they also take orders. They have lots of leathers from Haas and Degermann.This is my favorite address. The welcome is friendly, the choice is huge, especially for calfskin. The quality varies and suits all budgets, so take your time choosing.25 Rue Lécuyer, 93400 Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine Relma Leathers for leather goods, as well as for bookbinding.I go there to buy goatskin, the quality is incredible, I love it!You can buy leather for leather goods or bookbinding, and parchment. You need to specify…
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Attending the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
As a sports fan, attending an Olympic Games was high on my wishlistbucket list. I had looked into going to Tokyo in 2020 before giving up when I realized the budget required. No regrets, they were postponed due to Covid and then held behind closed doors… I couldn’t miss Olympic Games held in France, and now it’s done! A story, to remember it by. I bought a first batch of tickets in May 2023, when I was selected in the “lottery” at the 3rd or 4th round. My two criteria then were: iconic venues + sessions with medals. As the Olympics approached, I made additional purchases to complete my schedule…
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Nice (France): a little taste of vacation
After Prague, I had to go to Nice for personal reasons that I’ll reveal soon. I was still drained of energy, so I didn’t explore the city as I should have, but I did the bare minimum, which is to enjoy its little streets, shops, restaurants, and bookstores. I booked an Airbnb and to pick up the key, I had to go to a bike/metro parking spot on the street and there were several small lockers with codes. Apparently, that’s how Airbnbs give keys to their guests in Nice. Funny thing is, two days later, it’s mentioned in “Nice Matin” that the city is going to remove these lockers for…
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My visit to the Musée de l’imprimerie et de la communication graphique in Lyon (France)
Luckily for me, due to lack of space and a fixed place, my bibliophilia is limited to only a few very beautiful books and many museum and library visits. After visiting the museum Gutenberg in Mainz, the museum Plantin in Antwerp, here I am in Lyon at the museum of printing and graphic communication. I hope you enjoy this article because we paid an arm and a leg for a room during the Rugby World Cup, just so I could have time to visit this museum before our return to Paris. Given the time I spent in the museum, even JB realized that I like it a lot, a lot.…
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Travel journal: 2 months in France, August – September 2023
If the blog is less updated than before, it’s because when we travel, we travel too much and no longer have time to blog, and when we rest, we rest too much and don’t feel like blogging either 😀 It will take me a long time to write the missing travel journals between April 2022 and July 2023, but we’ll try, slowly. August 2023 In August, after touring Europe (making a quick stop in Turkey), we returned to France to look after my sister’s cat while she was on vacation. As usual, JB rents us a Fiat 500 from Leclerc, whose price is always unbeatable for a one-month rental Since…
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[review] Stained Glass Workshop in Chartres (France): Glass & Lead
A long time ago, while spending a weekend in Chartres, we happened to run into a couple of friends on the street. We asked them what they were doing there and learned that the friend’s mother was taking a stained glass workshop in Chartres. That bit of info stayed in my head for about ten years because I was really impressed to learn that people still did it as a hobby and that there were classes—it totally aligns with my obsession with gothic cathedrals. In May 2023, I returned to Chartres (right in the middle of a pilgrimage) and went straight to the stained glass center to inquire and sign…
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Visiting Illiers-Combray, in the footsteps of Marcel Proust
After my bookbinding, I went to visit Illiers-Combray. I could have visited it when I was in Chartres earlier this year, but at that time, I wasn’t reading Proust and Illiers-Combray didn’t exist for me. Illiers-Combray is the only commune to be renamed after a fictional place from a novel. Right now, the house of “Aunt Léonie” is under renovation (until April 2024). It was in this house, which belonged to his uncle Jules Amiot, that young Marcel Proust spent several of his Easter holidays as a child, between 1877 and 1880. Thanks to the support of its members and patrons, the SAMP opens this house to the public, transformed…
