On February 24th, iconic Parisian department store Le Bon Marché unveiled a new project curated by Sarah Andelman, co-founder of the (almost) equally iconic concept store Colette. “Mise en Page,” which Andelman created with French artist Jean Jullien, who is also a cofounder of the Korean brand NouNou.
Just like Colette, “Mise en Page” is retail, art, and experience all at once—this time with a specifically literary theme. Two enormous blue “Paper People,” created by Jean Jullien, are the centerpiece of the space: one reads on a stack of books while the other reaches up into the “shelves” of the curated retail space, which, according to The New York Times, “includes more than 1,000 items in a Colette-esque range of categories and prices, ranging from a three-euro commemorative postcard to a 60,000-euro table designed by the architect Aline Asmar d’Amman.”
Iconic bookstores like The Strand, Shakespeare & Co., Cow Books, and Books Are Magic are represented, along with plenty of other carefully selected brands, like Out of Print, Baggu, and Penco, and along with, of course, plenty of NouNou and Andelman’s own brand, Just an Idea. Sounds like “bookish” heaven—but not to fear, if you can’t get to Paris before “Mise en Page” closes on April 21, you can always shop the exhibition online.
