BLOU and not BLUE!
There’s furniture, designer objects as well as ready-to-wear clothes and stationery. At BLOU you can find everything. It’s a bit like being at home only better because you don’t struggle for 100 years to find a pencil. And on top of that at Blou bulbs are never burnt out. That reminds me I should call the electrician. It is not because we are at home that I will talk about my personal life. Blou is two shops side by side (75-77 rue Legendre, Paris). Blou is Julien, Nico, and Rodolphe. And it’s Blou not Blue. Knock Knock. Here we go we go ..
Hi Julien what does Blou mean?
It’s pretty straightforward. I wanted to do something different to what the shops used to do 4 years ago . I wanted to do something a little more colorful, more contemporary and younger. The idea was to go on color. I like how it sounds Blue. So I took it and franchised it and made a four-color logo. At the beginning it was a false good idea because now when people talk of Blou, they write Blue. So people never find me. What I liked in this name that was essentially the sound. The idea was to do a play on words with the name of a color and then decline logo. This was to cause confusion and create a challenge.
The shop is like an apartment. Are you and Nicolas are responsible for the entire design of the shop?
Exactly. Nico had a more artistic touch, creative and had good ideas about the look of the place. After that I took care of the rest. For example selecting the brands and choosing the premises. We did a lot of work ourselves. Basically I wanted something quite varied. A little like an apartment where you could buy everything in the shop. There would be a selection of uncommon products. I am very much inspired by what I have seen in England. I lived there for 4 years. I liked the kind of shops I could find over there. In France I didn’t see many shops like that. It’s true that now they are quiet a few but at the time there were not many! We tried to make a fairly consistent selection in different worlds. Whether it’s to do with ready-to-wear clothes, decorative items or stationery. The second shop we set up with an architect but it was really for the site supervision other than that the decorating was my idea.
You are keen on art and decoration. What is your background?
I studied chemistry. It’s something that has nothing to do with what I’m doing now. I got the chance to do a PhD in England. I bathed my feet in a different culture. When I got my first permanent job after a year and a half I told myself that it was not for me. I had to do something else. Specifically what I liked was the design and decoration side of things. So I tried to convert myself. I did a lot of training for a transitional year. I did drawing, painting, used illustrator and photoshop. But always in the creative aspect so I could always have some interesting tools to use. I also do upholstery. It allowed me to meet people. Before I would only meet scientists. A different way of thinking. So it was interesting to meet people from other backgrounds. I wanted to change the universe. Having something more solid. It was a great challenge.
Most of your products are ahead of the trends. Where do you find all of your ideas?
I do a lot of shows and I surf on the Internet to discover new designers, new brands. I also get a lot of requests. It is true that we find a lot at exhibitions. Including Maison et Objets in Paris. The Interieur Biennale in Kortrijk in Belgium. Belgians are very strong when it comes to organizing, selecting. The Danes are also offer quality products.
Besides the furniture and design objects you also offer a selection of ready-to-wear clothes particularly for men. What made you want to distribute OLOW?
Rodolphe: For us it meant having cheap clothes. (laughs)
Julien: It was because there was a big oaf who came by the shop every week. His name is Mathieu. I did not want to sell his brand but because he came every week he kind of pushed me into a corner and well there you go. He was so motivated that I said to myself: “I’ll put my first order in!” And since that day I think he’s calmed down. Mathieu really isn’t a sales person. He came by the shop, we talked but he never tried to flog his clothes. Initially for me it Olow was very urban, very street. It was not necessarily what I wanted. At that time I was looking to position my brand on the market. The ready-to-wear was not working very well at Blou. It lacked development. We focused more on the decor and fixtures. Olow has managed to evolve in the direction I like. That is still street, urban, but with a slightly offbeat side. And now he begins to have basic well-cut clothes, with beautiful materials. In the end I got to like this Mathieu. When I like people and I like the products it works …
Rodolphe : Olow it’s simple, it’s beautiful, it’s colorful. We’re talking about fine fabrics. And it’s still affordable. Take off your old Nikes and Carhartt and you’ve got yourself new materials with new brands. You can treat yourself.
You’re more than just a stop you’re a real living space with the organization of temporary exhibitions. Who is the next artist you’re going to put forward?
About that. It’s getting increasingly more and more difficult due to lack of space and time. We did some at the beginning. We had two, three artists. Then some of them blew us off. We had deadlines on the exhibitions and then at the last moment they weren’t anywhere to be seen. It is difficult to sell art in a shop like mine. I prefer to concentrate on the shop. And no artist exhibitions planned for the future. We would rather work with brands. If you’re not a big player in this line of work then you struggle to attract brands. They expect notoriety. The events they do are more at Merci or Colette. And I don’t think that we have the correct setup to do these kind of events. But it will come …
What designers are you currently following closely?
I’m following a little group of designers like Benjamin Graindorge, Cédric Ragot, Ionna Vautrin. They are young and well represented. Design in France took a little bit of time to emerge but now there are brands that can edit designers. Many designers are not published because it’s a trendy profession, very current. It is up to the designer to find his place and find products that are outside the norm.
Did you ever think about possibly producing furniture, decorative items?
You bet I did! I love those kind of things. It’s something that I consider for future development. I think it is very complicated and dicey. It will do it when we’re strong enough … There are many brands today and we must stand out. So it takes time and investment. For now it is developing the distribution side of the business. The more people who will know about us the easier it will be to develop our products …
What is your little place of paradise in Paris 17th?
In the summer we like to have a little sandwich on Place des Batignolles. ?
In the morning when you arrive what music do you listen to?
Rodolphe: I recently discovered a French Leonie Pernet. You can listen to it non stop, you never get tired of it.
Julien: I also love Dj Chloe.
Rodolphe: Not forgetting the good old Laurent Garnier.
Thank you to Julien, Nico and Rodolphe.
Find BLOU on their official site and on Facebook.
– P.L –
