III.5.8. "THE EMERGING DESIGN HUB OF PARIS..."

THE BBC WROTE OF LA GOUTTE D'OR IN 2018

(OF SHOPS THAT HAD APPEARED SINCE 2016)

A crossroad where creativity is still more recent.

Adapted from a Google map

From the Barbès or Chateau Rouge métro stations.

At its heart is a center for urban and world music (since 2021). We will come to it. 

The Paris 360 Music Factory

Shops that reflect the owners

and whose wares are unique

• "An Afro brand out to conquer the world"  

• Detour: African market signs

• Detour: Ads with a different message

• An African concept store

• Madame Touré's fashion

• The Catholic fabrics of a "child of God" 

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Next,

"An Afro brand out to conquer the world..."

"AN AFRO BRAND OUT TO CONQUER THE WORLD..."

WROTE "LE MONDE"* OF THE MIX OF AFRICAN MARKET SIGNS, WAX PRINT DESIGNS, POP ART AND COMICS 

*Considered the most influential French daily. 

Youssouf Fofana, born in the northern outskirts, created 

Maison Château Rouge.

Zoom

His poster promoted the neighborhood businesses present at his boutique's founding (in 2016):

Maison Château Rouge

40bis rue Myrha

He used African market signs and comics to create a new art. 

Ibrahim, vendor

The client in the black t-shirt spoke English with a foreign accent. Maison Château Rouge corresponds to what Chanel used to be, luxury unique to Paris. 

 

Kids scribbled on the panel that replaced a broken window. Two months later it was still there: Perhaps it was left on purpose.

  # # #

The Monoprix chain gave it 

nation-wide recognition.

*     *     *

Next,

Detour: African market signs

DETOUR : AFRICAN MARKET SIGNS

ONE CAME ACROSSS THEM BY LUCK ALONE UNTIL FOFANA MADE THEM HIS SPRINGBOARD 

"My parents brought it back from a trip to Africa," says the doctor whose office this sign adorns: 

"These canes were part of the assortment of a collector who had lived in Africa," an antiquarian explains:

La Galerie Jantzen 

18 rue de Beaune,7th

"I found them when cleaning out an attic in Alsace," the founder of the bookstore across the street from Maison Château Rouge admits:

La Régulière

43 rue Myrha

To my knowledge, aside from his shop such signs appear by calculation only in a restaurant whose decor Fofana created:

 Another Soul Restaurant in Paris (Baba Soul, 10th), "Entry to Black Paris" 

By highlighting the overlooked art 

he has launched an idiom 

that is direct, humanistic and fun.

*    *    * 

Next,

Ads with a different message

DETOUR: ADS THAT EXPRESS ENGAGEMENT

THE FIGURES ARE PART OF A WIDER WORLD...

          Newsletter 

AS OPPOSED TO THE USUAL VOID

*    *    *

Next,

Congolese wax prints, Ethiopian sneakers 

and an African concept store

AN AFRICAN CONCEPT STORE

CONGOLESE WAX PRINTS, ETHIOPIAN SNEAKERS, BOOKS...

"Like many young people who come from the African diaspora, I've integrated the African and European cultural codes that are part of the neighborhood."

-- Judith Apprey

Nofi Store

"First on Black culture"

37 rue Myrha

Entrée to Black Paris

There have been a few wax prints made in Africa, rather than Europe, China and India, but they have been hard to find. This shop is the first to propose production by women of the Republic of Congo, begun in 2020. 

Wax's quality is based on the quality of cotton and the number of layers of color. West African cotton is among the world's best, and the six layers of color are exceptional. 

Entrée to Black Paris

Judith Apprey

*     *     *

Next,

Madame Touré's fashion

MADAME TOURÉ'S FASHION

THIS FORMER MUSIC STORE IS NOW A TINY BOUTIQUE,  WORKSHOP AND PARLOR

Pala Pala Music 

35 rue Myrha

Abidjan's Madame Touré creates her wares. 

 

She chats with a friend who drops in as for a salon. Small as it is, the shop is as convivial as the beauty parlors and like an Asian computer store in the 13th (please scroll down), money is not the only goal.

The client on the left observes as Madame Touré makes her headdress. The workshop is behind the man on the right.

 

"Usually clothing in this spirit is sold 

as mass production on the web.

Here we imagine it ourselves and make it by hand."

-- Madame Touré

*    *    *

Next,

The Catholic fabrics of "a child of God"

THE CATHOLIC FABRICS OF A "CHILD OF GOD"

A STORE FOR NOTIONS LEADS TO CATHOLIC INVENTIVITY AND

A MAJOR RELIC 

Having lunch at this restaurant... 

Across the street from the Paris 360 Music Factory (more later)

I noticed the unusual announcements across the street...

La Grande Mercerie de Château Rouge

     31 bis rue Myrha 

"Students, 50 % reduction on your alterations;" "Religious cloths..." and remembered that I had to replace a snap.

# # #

"You can't sew it by hand. Let Pierre replace it," said the lady who greeted me. Later I learned that this was a family enterprise. The distinguished man behind the counter was her husband and the young man her son:

Snaps of different colors. Few stores bother with such minimal mending (one euro), still less in different colors. 

While waiting I noticed Christian images, surprising in that Muslim neighborhood which led to talking to the Cameroonian owner, Marie-Isabel Djob* Ngena-Nkondo.

*"Child of God"

Going toward Saint-Bernard-de-la-Chapelle church

She said that she had been the cantor at the Saint Denys Basilica* 

which shelters the tunic Jesus wore on his way to Calvary**

*In Argenteuil, a commune north of Paris, site of an important medieval abbey. 

* *For its story, The Seamless Robe of Jesus, Wikipedia; for a more complete account, this article in French:

Summary

The weaving is that of the 5th or 6th century, but may be older: Lack of examples prevents comparaison. But the tears in the tunic correspond to carrying a heavy object on the shoulders and DNA tests show the same blood group as that on the two other relics believed to be of Jesus.

In 2016, its exceptional display drew at least 200,000 pilgrims :

Both images, the Basilica web site 

Left, Charlemagne brings the tunic to his daughter, the abbess of  Argenteuil;

Right, the tunic as shown in 2016.

Argenteuil: The Display of the Sainted Tunic of Christ / KTOTV YouTube (in French)

She had this and other Catholic prints made in the Ivory Coast:

The fleur de lys, symbol of the French monarchy, evokes the tie between Catholicism and France. 

Displaying these prints shows the tolerance of this largely Muslim neighborhood. 

Protestant, I knew nothing of the relic. It took this store to almost miraculously uncover an important part of Catholicism and so of the Western past. 

# # #

Immigrants work: 

Marie-Isabel may sleep in the store. 

End of this section.

*    *    *

Next section,

III.5.9.

Africans' exuberant creativity