Tucked away in a little corner of a courtyard near the Bastille in Paris is AXS Design, a shop filled with vintage finds: glassware, fabrics, dinnerware, and more. I’ve been meaning to go for a while, but when a friend who’s a food stylist came to town, we stopped in.
This has been the rainiest year in Paris in a long, looong time; one day we had the heaviest rainfall in a hundred years. So it was a relief to pop inside AXS on that rainy afternoon and find shelves and shelves of plates, glasses, pitchers, tureens, and more. I’d visited their website so knew what to expect, but it was nice to see much more of what they have in stock.
Owners Ariel Novak and Sydney Sabatier work with restaurants, shops, designers, and photographers, finding and choosing pieces that fit their clients’ personal aesthetic. But anyone can shop here.
Okay, I guess I’ll be honest here and say that I was here with my food stylist, seeing if there was anything interesting we could use for my next book. On cookbook photo shoots, you have a food stylist and a prop stylist, the latter of which brings plates, linens, forks, bowls, cutting boards, and anything else you might need in a variety of colors, sizes, and textures. It’s hard to tell what will look good in front of the camera until you actually set a piece of cake or a few cookies on it.
We decided not to use a prop stylist on my book since my friend (the food stylist) said the book would be more charming, and be authentic, if we used things that I already had. Thankfully, I’ve picked up a few things over the years, here and there, that look nice with my food on them.
AXS design website
While I’ll admit that I do have quite a few plates and platters, around here, it’s nice to see what else is out there, since we’re shooting around eighty photos, and even I don’t have that many forks and dishes. (Well, I probably do. But I’m not admitting it.)
But it’s fun to look around and see what else is out there.
There are no cornichons in my next book, unfortunately—it’s just desserts. And I couldn’t see how or where to fit them in to justify bringing home that pot, above. But as my mom used to say when she slowed down whenever she saw a garage sale in progress, “It never hurts to look.”
And look we did. I did like the café table, below, with the unusual base. It didn’t look as stable as the four-footed variety of café tables, but I’m sure we could find room in our backyard for it. However, I left it for someone else.
Paris Flea Markets and Thrift Stores
I have quite a collection of mortar and pestles already, but as my mom said, “It never hurts to look…”
I won’t say whether I added any more to my collection or not, but I’ll admit that we did pick up a few other items that were in my style, including a handful of forks, cake plates, and other serving pieces that I may abscond with after we’re done with the photo shoot next month. The book comes out next fall, so I’ve got time to think about it.
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AXS design
12 rue Saint-Sabin (11th)
(Opening hours on their website and Instagram page.)
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