PARIS OBJET TROUVE

Sophisticated and enchanting, artful and eclectic, Paris is a city filledwith high-class glamour and old-world charm, combining to create a uniquestyle of interiors. From a heritage rich in the decorative arts, Parisianshave an acute appreciation of objets and the ways in which they can enrichlife. They have also a fondness for nostalgic items, from personaltreasures discovered in the famous Paris flea markets, to pricey curiosfound in local antiquaires. For Herbert Ypma's investigation ofcontemporary decorative trends in Paris, Renea and Barbara Stoeltie havephotographed some of its most remarkable and sumptuous interiors, fromtheir own home with its plaster reliefs and objects modelled on Pompeiianoriginals, to the catacomb beneath the Palais Royal occupied by DeniseOrsoni, who has almost single-handedly revived a taste for 1940s Parisianobjects and designs. The author identifies the historical fashions thatcontinue to affect French decor today, and the challenge to Parisiangrandeur by the witty use of found objects.