Paris: Art, Music, Food, and Tattoos in One Spot

[Lochlan]

I don't think we have any LSTers in Paris on here but would enjoy hearing more on this if anyone has been or knows more......

In Paris, Tattoos and a Slice of Cake While You Wait

By CLAUDIA BARBIERI

Paris

POSTS | CITY GUIDE

We’ve all been there: you want to get a tattoo, but you’d also love to hear some live music, see some local art and have a piece of cake. Well, there’s a spot for you in Paris: Horror Picture Tea, which opened in January, a funky mixture of luxury dessert shop, music venue, bistro, urban art gallery and, yes, tattoo parlor.

“This is a first for Paris and maybe the world,” said Guillaume Sanchez, who dreamed up the venue.

The spot (95 rue St.-Honoré; Horror Picture Tea | Le salon de Thé qui mixe Rock et Gastronomie de Luxe) takes up a ground floor and basement amid suitably cool company at the über-trendy Chatelet end of the rue St.-Honoré.

While reflecting on your next piece of inked art, you can drink a fragrant herbal brew and try some wild baked concoctions, like a lemon and rosemary religieuse, or a mango and cumin macaron.

Mr. Sanchez trained as a pastry cook at famed Paris restaurants like Fauchon and Pierre Hermé. But he was born in Bordeaux, and in the Bordelais they believe in making great wines by assemblage — that is, mixing things up.

“I want to mix luxurious gastronomy and urban style,” he said. “To create an eclectic mash that’s different to anything else around, for the young and out of sync.”

Besides patisserie, his other passion is music.

On Thursdays and Fridays there are concerts, and Saturdays a D.J. spins until 2 a.m. The vibe is mostly electro-rock, but can include California punk, New Wave and garage. So far the musicians have mostly been French but foreign artists are making appearances as well: the California rock outfit Angels & Airwaves recently played a gig.

Apart from cakes, there’s a classic French bistro menu; appetizers are 7 to 12 euros (about $10 to $14), entrees are 12 to 19 euros, and pastries are 7 euros.

Future plans include baking classes, and new venues — a branch in Los Angeles is scheduled for August, followed by Barcelona and perhaps Geneva, Mr. Sanchez said.

No prize for guessing where the name comes from: “The Rocky Horror Show.”

“I saw it 300 times,” he said.

The New York Times

[CaptCanada]

Well to be honest I'm not to hot on the idea, I belive it's all part of the trend for tattoos becoming more mainstream. You can find pictures of tattoos done there on facebook, which the store has been opened for 2 months and has more than 3000 fans. Didn't look at all the work they've done but nothing caught my eye. Most seemed to be avrage with some being below avg. Which will all work out in the end, people won't liked getting tattooed anymore when they realize they've been getting crap tattoos.

So, to sum it up. Soon because of shops like this tattoos will fall out of being mainstream and go back to being how it was, and how it should be.

[edit] I don't mean to sound like everyone getting tattoo a bad thing. Just getting tattooed cause it's the "in" thing. Everyone wanting to get tattooed is great for tattooers. With this rocky econamy it's great. But that is flooding the market with people with little to no skill. But like they say what goes up, must come down.

Also sorry about not posting a facebook link. On my itouch and can't copy/paste.

[MsRad]

i remember when i was 16 and visiting Brooklyn for a month, there was a spot in St. Marks place that you could order coffee from and had a tattoo shop... i never investigated into it further, but at the time, i thought it was kind of neat. now i think it's kind of horrible.

also CaptCanada, i'm not sure that people are getting crappy tattoos just because it's trendy, or more because they just want instant gratification. it's a lot easier (and cheaper) to go to a mediocre shop that it's your town, pay $100, and an hour and a half later walk out with a half-assed tattoo than wait on a list for 3 months, travel to a different area, pay $150 -$300/hour, sit through a 4 hour session, but then walk away with a piece that is truly a work of art. we live in a society driven by mass consumption and mass comodification. one experience is good enough for most, and for many, it doesn't need to be the best.

[CaptCanada]

I have to apologize in advance if I take this to off topic.

MsRad I understand what you are saying, but you are starting to talk about something the avg consumer doesn't care about. We, as in collecters, are willing to wait many months and pay top dollar for a chance to add some ink. And while I belive you get what you pay for, I can't belive we all started with this mind set and a list of people we want to get tattoed by. But if you did congrats.

How I belive people that are getting tattooed currently, they just see ink under the skin. Not the artwork behind it. And yes they go to the most convenient places. And what's more convenient than the local hang out (ie: this place). So let's just say a group of friends (6 people all untattooed) start going here for coffee or music. And after a few weeks of walking past these tattoo machines, one of them starts to think about wanting to try it. Says to the group of friends that they wanna get tattooed. Then another one says me too, let's go together. They come back and say it doesn't hurt like they thought it would. One by one they all get tattooed, maybe start collecting tattoos, maybe it will stop at one. But they start really looking at there tattoos, seeing crooked lines, color loss, ect... it puts a bad taste in there mouth about the whole tattoo thing, cause only two choices now, laser or cover up.

Now they start getting names of good artists, but with having a negitive view of tattooing from the prior work and seeing the rates well known artists charge. They stay with just one tattoo, a mistake from the past. Get enough people like this and tattooing will slow down.

Now I do understand that this scenario is a lot of what it's. But it's also human nature, some of my friends back home are speaking of getting tattooed, I'll try talk them out of it at first, then I'll start teaching them what to look out for at a shop or an artist if they continue to want tattoos. None of them have gotten tattooed yet, but they waiting.

I will also say I haven't been state side in 5 years, exept for a 2 vacations. But what I see from the outside looking in is, Americans get some of the most visible tattoos out of everybody. And if you lose your job and need to find new work, with visable tattoo, good luck. If you've planned a head or your job is in this sub culture then it's different, don't have to worry.

Now these are just my thoughts from the top of my head, good tattoos / bad tattoos it doesn't matter if it's on your body and you like them. Cause at the end of the day, it don't matter what I think.

[MsRad]

CaptCanada, i think you didn't get what i was saying, and basically we have said the same thing. as for me personally, i didn't have a long list of artists i was interested in, but i had a few who by the time i was 18, i knew i wanted to get work done by. that's because i went to the internet, started reading articles and books, and had attended my first convention by that age. i didn't actually get tattooed until i was 19, partially because of money, but also because i wanted to know for sure that if i was going to get a big piece, that it was going to turn out exactly how i wanted it. that's when i went to Chris Conn and got my chest done.

and that's also what i am saying. most people, despite how easy it actually is to do, won't go through that process. it's easier to go down to your local university district and get a tattoo by whoever's working that day than it is to spend some time and have the patience to be serious about the art. i'm not trying to toot my own horn, but that's just the way it is for most people. and you're right, some people may be turned off by the quality of tattoos that they have, but others just won't care as it may have been a rather fleeting decision from the start. it's a comodity to most; i think the majority of people are simply ignorant to the idea that there is something better out there than just their neighborhood shop (even with the popularization of tattooing within mainstream media), and as the saying goes, ignorance is bliss. there will be some who will nerd out online, do some homework or meet some people, and their opinions will change. for most, i think, it just doesn't matter.

and also, with the popularization of tattooing, comes the acceptance of those who are visibly tattooed. after having teachers in highschool with visible tattoos, professors in college, and now working a job where tattooing and body modification are being considered a credible subject to be examined concerning fine art and cultural history, i have to say that i disagree that your SOL if you have visible tattoos. sure, you may not become president of the US, but with my generation being one of the most heavily moded in the last 50 years, and with its cultural acceptance in society, companies and institutions are either going to have to hire those of who are tattooed, or they will have to cut their work force as tattooing doesn't appear to be getting any less popular (unfortunately).

hell, my mom even wants a tattoo now. i figure i'll bring her over to Blackheart or Temple sometime in the next year.