Paris_ The Collected Traveler - Barrie Kerper [274]
There are Le Labo boutiques and counters around the world (lelabofragrances.com), but only two in North AmericA: New York City (233 Elizabeth Street / 212 219 2230) and Los Angeles (8385 West Third Street / 323 782 0411). Not only are their scents exceptional, but the Santal 26 notepad—with its leather cover and brown kraft paper—is, too. The notebook is referred to as a carnet de boucher, or “butcher’s notebook,” which must refer to the brown kraft paper sometimes used to wrap purchases at a butcher shop. Other than the name, there is nothing remotely butcherlike about this wonderful creation! It’s handcrafted in France by the also terrific La Compagnie du Kraft (lacompagniedukraft.fr) and is scented with Le Labo’s cult interior scent, Santal 26, characterized by a smoky, leathery essence. It comes with an elastic band, and it is just one of my absolute favorite objets on the planet. “Use it and abuse it,” note the founders, “as it’s made to outlast you. And it probably will.”
When I visited the New York boutique, I decided to sample a few scents to see if I could find one more perfume to add to my (very small) stable of scents—they’re not easy for me to find, as perfume tends to be very fleeting on my skin. I tried four and loved them all, but six hours later the scent of only one still remained: Rose 31. So, yes, Rose 31 is now next to the other two bottles of perfume I own, and I’m extremely happy this scent is a part of my life. Each Labo scent is freshly bottled at the time of purchase and the label is personalized with the customer’s name. Each boutique has a unique city-exclusive scent: for Paris it’s Vanille 44, for New York it’s Tubéreuse 40, and for Los Angeles it’s Musc 25. Each perfume has an accompanying body lotion, and Le Labo’s line of candles and home fragrances are composed of completely different scents.
Sennelier
In Paris since 1887, Sennelier (magasinsennelier.com) is a renowned art supply shop founded by chemist Gustave Sennelier. He opened Maison (now Magasin) Sennelier on the Quai Voltaire, just across the Seine from the Louvre and not far from the École des Beaux-Arts, and happily Sennelier is still a family affair. According to the company, Sennelier’s work “was so meticulous and his eye for color so accurate that the artists soon began to consider his palette as the ultimate standard of quality.” Sennelier began packaging some paints in metal tubes, which enabled the painters of the day—notably the Impressionists—to paint outdoors; Cézanne, Pissarro, Bonnard, and Picasso are said to have been frequent clients.
Today the shop—known also as Couleurs du Quai—doesn’t look much different, inside or out, from its original appearance. The small glass door and creaking wooden floor seem perfect for an art supply shop, and there are papers, large rounds of colorful pastels, pencils, paints, watercolors, brushes, and drawing pads stuffed everywhere—this is not a pristine space, but rather a gold mine for anyone who is artistically inclined. Even for nonartistic types like myself there are quite a few things of interest: I found some great pads of paper in varying sizes and textures that I use for note-taking and journals, as well as a beautiful refillable leather case that snaps closed and holds a pad of paper inside. There are very handy Couleurs du Quai journals, in several sizes and with an elastic band, with standard brown kraft paper and covers featuring a photograph of the store dating from the early