Shopping - Paris e-guide: The Travel Guide with its Own Website - page 67

Centre

17 B1

Sentou cool, contemporary living
18 & 24 rue du Pont Louis-Philippe, 4ème
01 42 71 00 01 (No. 24), 01 42 77 44 79 (No. 18)
29 rue François Miron, 4ème • 01 42 78 50 60
www.sentou.fr Open 11-7 Tue-Sat (closed 2-3pm)

glassware by Sugahara, classy Stelton cutlery, coolly
elegant silver and gold enamel-dipped china bowls,
plates and cups by French design duo Tsé-Tsé, plus
salt and pepper shakers, scented candles, containers,
lacquered trays and spring vases (old test tubes wired
together into snaking shapes). No. 18, meanwhile, is
awash with the designs of former newspaper illus-
trator and furniture fabric designer 100Drine: vividly
coloured, hand-painted plates with smiling faces and
stacks of storage tins and notebooks dominate the
space. In addition, there are roomy plastic shopping
baskets and cute things for kids. Objects are displayed
for easy, hands-on inspection and staff are helpful
and happy to offer advice. The largest store, a five-
minute stroll away on rue François Miron, houses the
striking, modern furniture of Swedish company David
Design and Aalto's classic tables and chairs, as well
as lamps, furniture and textiles from the Sentou line.

It describes itself as “the art of living” store and that
pretty much sums it up. Opened in Paris in 1977 as an
outlet for the work of furniture designer Robert Sentou,
this Marais store (actually three separate shops) has
morphed over the years into a quasi gallery that
champions modern design. Today, Sentou carries a
varied selection of contemporary designs, from the
ethereal bamboo-and-paper lamps of Osamu Noguchi
to the upright birch chairs of Alvar Aalto, with the
supple vinyl containers of D-sign by O and playful
picture plates by 100Drine in between.
The shop at No. 24, the original boutique, is now a
temple to tablewares, including colourful hand-blown