The Squid stories: November 2012

Merci.
What a great, surprising store!

Not that spectacular when you walk on by the Paris Boulevard Beaumarchais, but once you entered the open court yard, you discover a world of particular original design, well curated fashion and thé absolute hip and happening brands in beauty and jewelry. Another concept store, yes but not as you know it....

Opened in Paris last March 2009, this shop is an idea of Marie France and Bernard Cohen. Merci is the first fashion and design 'Magasin Solidaire' in France and this means 100% of the profit goes to a charity cause in Madagascar, one of the poorest countries in the world.

The Merci store is located in a majestic, sun-lit loft of 16,000 Sq foot (!!!) with a real library-(with only used books for sale) meets- a-coffee house with it's own entrance on the main road.

Paola Navone was guest designer for this X-Mas and brings an inspired 'polkadot' based collection for Merci and the French famous discount supermarket Monoprix.
Navone's bold combinations of black, white and red graphic design is strong and powerful.
A Merci pop up store with Navone was by the way also part of the Milan Tortona Design Week, I remember now.

Merci conceptstore Paris http://www.merci-merci.com/en/

Under the stairs, a tiny cinema, with two chairs, where you can watch one movie, that you buy later on DVD. In this case we had Sean Penn's "This must be the place"about Cheyenne, a retired rock star living off his royalties in Dublin and looking a lot like The Cure's Robert Smith.

Isabel Marant, Azzaro, Stella McCartney, Kris Van Assche and Paul Smith helped to create this unique selection for Merci, by offering a full look or some one-off pieces like these 'to die for' boots of Marant (Another of her shoe designs that has an endless fan base!). Sorry for the bad quality picture but the light was not great...

Besides great fashion, you discover room by room very original settings with nature and rough wood inspired tables, recycled bottles chairs, some design classics, retro lovers kitchen settings, Martin Margiela trompe l'oeil doors and even the AB FAB Crystal Baccarat chandelier ( First seen at the design fair Salone di Mobile in Milan.)

Really fantastic wall paper: 'trompe l'oeil' tin-tile, Brooklyn authetic ceiling photographs on paper from NLXL. Loved it.

The Brooklyn wallpaper used on a wall, with another great item at Merci: a star-light in X-Mas tradition.

The Merci paper tabouret: place books in it and you have a perfect extra chair for an extra eater at diner.

People cueing, under lovely paper light fittings of Miss Navone.

Top view from the first floor on the Merci fetish Fiat, that normally takes the stores theme. This month is was just red. Nice.

This heavenly shop has a philanthropic mission. The Merci team convinces every time famous creators to bring their wares and forget their margins. Think Annick Goutal and her fountain of scents, Stella Mc Cartney, Yves St Laurent, our own Belgian couture brand Nathan ...

Goutal's legendary perfumes are sold here in simple glass bottles instead of the usual branded flasks. You can bring your own bottles for a refill of your favorite scent. The best thing? It's 40% off the normal prize!

Also the hip and very natural brand Aesop has it's shop in the shop.

So besides the fact that you are in a great store, what is the absolute best part? Well, while you shop you raise money!

The profits the store makes on your purchases are donated! I have no clue how they do it, but hey, who cares. This IS an amazing store, and an amazing concept (although I hate the word).

Merci, Lovely Merci!

Concept Store Merci
www.merci-merci.com
111 boulevard Beaumarchais
75003 Paris
01 42 77 00 33
Métro Saint sébastien Froissart
du lundi au samedi de 10 heures à 19 heures

http://www.merci-merci.com

©ALL photos by Kate Stockman_THE SQUID STORIES

Interieur Kortrijk 2012.

Always been a strange mix of professional and consumer design interest, but on the other hand always open for innovation, strong head designers and 'incontournable' in Belgium.

This year, for the first time the Biennale opened towards a city parcours. No, we don't compare with the Interni circuit in Milano yet, but hey Rome wasn't built in a day either.

Besides the traditional fair ground, the organisation was present at the Buda site in the center. Because I was so curious about the new venue, I first visited the city.

Shuttle shelter, heavy sponsored by Audi with 45 (!!) cars. Great stunt, fantastic service.
Pink blinded car windows, drivers in a matching suit with posh scarf. Swell!

Tattoo-ish color full containers, because I like these.

Design students gather in Buda building for lectures and some group projects.

Green eco typo

Love the color, love the placement of the object, the unfinished state. Yep.

A quote at the co-working table of the schools.

Pure poetry setting.

Recycling carpet leftovers: a contest by one of the big carpet producers. Good initiative.

The morphing home: push furniture and functions in and out of teh walls. Stuff inside, is pushed outside to make place, and so the shape of the building shifts. Start counting the 'house shaped' installations #1

3D printing, all over the fair, everyone is experimenting with this technique, but not everyone in an intersting way.

Ross Lovegrove talking with a Dutch designer working with 3 D printing techniques. Ross his installation was next to this set. Neighbor talk, so to speak.

Nice photographs, jewelry was ok but not as strong as the pictures.

3D Printed insects. Like.

Interesting case: ask designers what they would pack in a wooden crate, if they would leave for another planet?
This beautiful project initiated for the IN Residence exhibition curated by Barbara Brondi & Marco Rainò posits the situation where if we have to leave Earth for another hospitable planet, what would be our “minimal hand luggage”? Another Terra- Homle away from home.

Handgepäck by Studio Besau-Marguerre Another Terra- Homle away from home.The resulting items are exhibited in a series of suitcases that range from Thomas Alonso's functional box of hand tools to more sentimental pieces that serve as a memory of home, such as Formafantasma's vase made from natural polymers.

MARKED: an brand new project in which up-and-coming talents will be coached throughout the development process so they can eventually present their products in a pop-up shop. The ten designers who are selected by a professional MARKED-jury are Laura Bergans (graphic design ontwerp), Joëlle Batens (illustration), Dorinda Bielen (fashion), Nick Ceulemans (product design), Gilberte Claes(product design), Denise Gielen (product design), Andrea Mohr (fashion), Jeroen Seré (product design), Astrid Vyt(product design) and Caroline Das and Kim Nivelle (jewellery). They present their products from the 30th of November until the 31st of March in a temporary shop based in C-mine, Genk.
http://www.c-mine.be

DENISE GIELEN (TRANS)FORMATION Sculptural design

Typical event designer seat, XL and nice to have a quick e-mailcheck.

The designs of British designer and visionary Ross Lovegrove scan the crossings between technology, materials science and intelligent organic form. Lovegrove uses computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and informs the software to define the ideal streamlined shape of his optimal streamlined vehicle, to arrive in aesthetics whereby technology delivers a new fantastic level of seamless precision in modern pristine materials. His thought provoking installation is that human nature and intuition can override the digital process to arrive at fantastic forms.

Ordinary Kortrijk citizens in a non aware confrontation with a design-art piece behind him.

Entrance of the Buda Tower where Hay and Piet Hein Eek had an exhibition.
Atmosphere a bit like a small 'Ventura Lambrata zone in Milano'

Installation based on human presence: the net vibrated and waved over the heads of visitors.

Outfit of the Biennale staff: always surprising, always a bit space I think. This one I liked.
The geometric uniforms by Norwegian designer Damien Frederiksen Ravn were inspired by the event’s logo. The staff uniforms at Interieur were part of wider idea that this event should be better designed that other design fairs dixit curator Lowie Vermeersch.