Empreintes Concept Shop in Paris
Highlights at Empreintes include the work of ceramist Kaori Kurihara and gilder Xavier Noël, both winners of the 2015 Young Creative Craftworker’s Award.
The Empreintes fine craft concept store has opened its second season in Paris. Over 1 000 unique pieces of art handmade in French craft workshops span the range from tableware, ornaments and jewellery to furniture, lights and cabinets of curiosities.
Highlights include the work of ceramist Kaori Kurihara and gilder Xavier Noël, both winners of the 2015 Young Creative Craftworker’s Award. A Strasbourg-based craftsman and designer, Noël uses an 18th-century gilding technique to revive antique oddities in the context of contemporary design. From Japan, Kurihara has distinguished herself by combining her background in traditional Japanese ceramics with contemporary French jewellery training.
The design for the store, to be open until April 2017, was devised by Elizabeth Leriche. It takes visitors on a journey from Nini Peony’s embroidered jewellery to the extraordinary ceramics of Denis Castaing, Jeanne Bonnefoy and Claire Lindner. A stroll past Sabine Fillit’s slate mosaic pieces gives a moment’s contemplation before the mural panels sculpted by Frédérique Domergue.