Two Unique Paper and Stationery Boutiques in Paris

In the age of communication with smartphones, texts and emails, it’s a comfort knowing that paper and stationery shops are thriving in Paris. On a single, short street in the Marais district, there are no less than four paper and stationery boutiques. Below are two of our favorites.

Calligrane

The paper boutique Calligrane was established for over 30 years and taken over by new owners, Vanessa Barth, and her husband Marcel Zuger, when the founder died in 2011.

Calligrane is truly unique—a hybrid of boutique and gallery, offering handmade paper products and artworks by paper artists and artisans, mostly from France. The impressive roster of artists represented in the shop include Antonin Anzil, who creates paper sculptures embossed with symbols and various designs; Genevieve Howard, who designs jewelry made of paper and colored cardboard; and Jean-Michel Letellier, who uses a Japanese technique to produce delicate, translucent wall hangings using mulberry fibers and paper pulp. Zuger, is also an artist and painstakingly produces 3D sculptures with methods such as individually painting and rolling hundreds of small, sheets of paper and condensing them into a square or round box, or hand-painting hundreds of toothpicks and tightly arranging them to form a unique shape. One of the most unusual items in Calligrane is a series of fruits and vegetables, such as beets, kiwis, onions, carrots, leeks, blood oranges, apples and pears, cut razor thin and then flattened with weights, to produce unique pieces that can be matted and framed for the kitchen or dining room.

Calligrane also sells hand-painted greeting cards, stationery and envelopes, notebooks, sheets of writing paper, paper tablets, twine, and ribbon.

Visit www.calligrane.fr.

Melodies Graphiques

Melodies Graphiques

While many boutiques have come and gone on rue du Pont Louis Phillipe, Melodies Graphiques has also been a fixture on the street for over 30 years. The original owner, Eric de Tugny, who was also a calligrapher, retired and sold the shop to Giacomo Nottiani, in 2015. Melodies Graphiques specializes in all things related to calligraphy, including wood pen holders, ink, inkwells, different size nibs (pen tips) and compact calligraphy kits. Browsing through the shop you will also find a rich selection of embossed notecards, handsome, leather-bound journals and date books, colored pencils, handmade greeting cards, sheets of colorful print wrapping paper, notebooks with illustrated covers, and bookmarks. There’s a small area in the shop equipped with calligraphy pens, an inkwell, and a blank notebook where you can test out your calligraphy skills on the spot.

Tip: Nottiani’s wife, Hitomi, is a calligrapher and gives private calligraphy lessons upon request at the boutique in the mornings before they open.

Melodies Graphiques has been so successful in the past few years, it has spawned another boutique just next door that stocks more decorative paper products including three dimensional cards with scenes of Paris, rubber stamp kits, antique lace, scented sachets, handmade paper puppets, vintage metal and ceramic boxes, and antique Christmas cards from 1925.

Visit www.melodies-graphiques.com.

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