Pochette à livre Paris Promenades – Volets Bleus

Look up

We spend a lot of time looking straight ahead in Paris.

Understandably so. There are bicycles, cars, hurried pedestrians, dreamy dogs and pavements that occasionally seem to have their own ideas about where you should walk.

But every now and then, you need to look up.

That is when Paris changes.

An open window. Three flowerpots. A shadow moving across a wall. A curtain catching the breeze. Or an entire façade punctuated by blue shutters.

Blue, beige, blue, window, shadow, blue again.

The building becomes almost musical.

I photographed this scene during one of my walks through Paris. Nothing extraordinary is happening, and that is precisely what I love about it. It is inhabited Paris, the city that exists between monuments, above storefronts and behind windows.

That is the spirit of Paris Promenades.

Walk.

Look.

Look up.

Bring home a picture.

A little home for your book

Then came the book pouch itself.

This 28 × 20 cm format joined the collection because my customers asked for it: a larger pouch that could hold a book before slipping it into a bag.

A small textile home to help protect pages and covers from keys, cables and the minor hazards of everyday travel.

Its dimensions make it suitable for many books, novels and notebooks, while the generous flap keeps them comfortably separate from the rest of your belongings.

But a welcoming home can have other guests.

Documents, papers, travel essentials, accessories, cables and everyday objects can all take over when the book stays home.

That is what I like about this pouch: it has an obvious purpose without having only one purpose.

Paris outside, your world inside

On Blue Shutters, the photograph works with the shape of the pouch.

Closed, the flap completes the composition. Lift it and the image continues — rather like turning a page and discovering what comes next.

Perhaps photographs and books have something in common after all: both invite us to look somewhere else.

This Maron Bouillie book pouch is made in Paris in small series, from an original photograph taken during my walks through the city.

You do not need a monument to carry Paris with you.

A few windows.

Some shadows.

A row of blue shutters.

And a good book inside.

That will do nicely.