Having dropped off my children at school, I decided to amble down the road instead of running back home to fulfill the usual daily rituals that make up the schedule of a freelancing mum. A certain shop had already caught my eye on another occasion and I had always assumed it was a sort of DIY -bric-a brac -bazaar type entity, much like many of the uncategorizable concept stores that seem to pop up everywhere in Paris like space dust did on your palette in the 80s. And what a bazaar it was. Fleux lured me into its vortex from which I “successfully” emerged an hour later. And then I went into the surrounding flagship shops ; with an emphasis on furniture, design and wacky gift selections. Since then, almost every friend I have introduced to this store has become an avid fan. The creativity and selection behind their stuff is irresistibly eye catching and enthralling ergonomic design terms. There’s also a lot of utterly useless stuff too. From this category, I chose something I knew my kids would. What’s more, a friend who is an incredibly talented furniture upholsterer was mesmerized by the array of  « distressed” tables and chairs and found herself inspired for own designs, proceeding to organize the shipment of several key articles to her Bordeaux base on the spot. This is the art of Fleux and one, which we hope, they will continue for a long while. The Fleux shops, with their capacity to inspire, diverge from the retail frenzy of a ready-made shopping mecca, simply because pieces on show tempt the customer to use their own slant on furnishing their home around “key” items. Wallpaper samples, (not quite affordable to decorate a whole room), actually become wonderful just as a hanging graphic on a drab wall. A vintage looking table would actually marry so well with the ubiquitous modern meridian sofa AND grandmas custom-made cushion. It’s about combining unique pieces with what we already have. Quirky articles from all sorts of corners of the earth coexist quite slickly. The “gadgety” displays by the counter will invariably find themselves lodged at the top of you bag before exiting. That’s Fleux for you.

52 Rue Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie, 75004 Paris