When the artist and designer Aurelie Bidermann teamed up with the venerable house of Christofle to collaborate on homewares and jewelry, she looked no further than the breakfast table for inspiration. Bidermann cheerfully admits that she was thinking about twisted brioche as she created the braids of silver that appear and reappear in her collection—11 items meant to grace the table, along with six pieces of jewelry in sterling silver. “I started designing this a year ago,” Bidermann tells me. “I love things that are round, generous, and sensual—and I like them to be very big or very small!”
Her curvaceous designs, which include the big—vases, serving bowls, candlesticks, and a humongous bracelet—along with the small—earrings, and rings—are deeply classic yet utterly modern, like Christofle itself. The company was founded in 1830 and is known for having introduced silver plating in France. For nearly 200 years, its homeware has graced dining rooms in art deco ocean liners as well as rarefied homes of Hollywood royalty. But if its reach is international, its roots are firmly Gallic.
Bidermann, the sort of person that the expression “French girl” was invented for, named her collection Babylone, in honor of the Rue de Babylone, the storied thoroughfare that defines her Parisian neighborhood. She is firmly a Left Bank person, she declares, and to celebrate this venture with Christofle, she has agreed to share her favorite local haunts: the places that she loves, and that informed—maybe a bit unconsciously—her designs for Christofle.
We set out on one of those Paris days that is alternatively drizzly and fair, and our first stop is Bidermann’s sumptuous apartment, where the table is laid with her Christofle creations. Suddenly I think: Why am I not the sort of person who has dinner parties that require braided silver napkin rings? I want to be this person!
Never mind, we’re off. We leave this Left Bank lair and head to the Pharmacie des Ames, a bookshop in a former drug store founded by Ramdane Touhami, the guy behind the wildly popular faux-old apothecary, Buly1803. Where once boxes of paracetamol held sway, those same shelves brim with James Baldwin and Betty Friedan, Albert Camus and Maya Angelou. But not everything here has the same intellectual heft; there are souvenir T-shirts and a resident cat on the premises.
We pass by Café Varenne, a favorite watering hole of Bidermann’s, but no time for coffee—we are shopping! Our next stop is Maison Boissier, which since 1827 has been providing sweets to everyone from Émile Zola to Victor Hugo. The packaging alone is irresistible, not to mention the bonbons inside. Bidermann gifts me with her personal favorite: a round tin containing the shop’s legendary violet chocolates.
Do you have a seven-year-old at home? Bidermann does, but even if she didn’t, it would be hard to resist L Oiseau de Paradis. I may be the sort of person for whom a napkin ring is an alien creature, but I am right at home in this crowded toy shop, besotted with the Tintin figurines, the miniature Becassines, and the soft Carolle baby dolls, the furthest thing from Barbies.
Sometimes the tastes of a legendary Parisian influencer and a humble journalist from New York City coincide. It turns out Bidermann loves Galerie Vauclair, and so do I. This antique store specializes in late 19th century wicker—if only one of these settees could fit in a carry-on—along with porcelains, among them those exquisitely rendered, highly collectible antique plates that are encrusted with dead fish and slimy eels, dishes that navigate the thin line between faintly disturbing and weirdly appealing.
Need something to wear to the Met Gala? Just down the street is Renaissance, a vintage clothing store that bears no resemblance to the smelly venues where you have been known to treasure hunt. This pristine boutique offers such finds as a Dior couture frock from 1959 at a cool 40,000 euros; a Karl Lagerfeld-era gold Chanel jacket is a more palatable €9000. I try on a wonderful 1920s evening coat—less than €2000!—and maybe I should buy this? (My rule of never shopping for myself when I am reporting is being sorely tested today.)
We have saved the best for last! At Isabelle Subra Woolworth’s beautiful antique jewelry gallery, Bidermann falls for a 19th century spider brooch, and I am enthralled by a dazzling 18 karat gold chain that closes with an enameled barrel locket. (Full disclosure—when I get home I email Woolworth to send this to me, and I am wearing it even as I write this.)
Frankly exhausted, we zip around the corner to The Smiths Bakery where we order coffee, share a tarte Tropezienne, and mull over all we have seen. Tintin toys or Dior couture? Violet candies or Betty Friedan?
Is it any wonder that Bidermann was inspired for her Christofle Babylone collection by this stellar neighborhood? And wouldn’t her braided creations look beautiful nestled next to a fishy plate, or peeking out from beneath the sleeve of a flapper coat?
