La Fausse Boutique is an artisanal cooperative, concept store and showroom rolled into one; more importantly though, it is an incubator for fledgling French businesses, giving them a space to mature and – as is often the case here – flourish.
After its first location proved a success – opened at Pigalle in 2010, where designers work cooperatively in an on-site atelier – the collective set up a second, more traditional boutique in the Marais in 2014. The new store sells a diverse, moderately priced range of eccentric gifts and novelties: stickers (€6-€27), jewellery (€12-€200), silkscreen t-shirts (from €25) as well as shoes, bags, bow ties, tea, origami and even cedar-scented men’s laundry freshener. The boutique does go a little overboard with its labelling though; virtually every item is tagged: ‘homemade’, ‘handmade’, ‘Made in France’, ‘Made in Europe’, ‘French-designed’, ‘eco-contributive’.
Fostering entrepreneurship and collaboration, while creating new outlets for French designers (including an e-shop), La Fausse Boutique has become a veritable magnet for rising French talent.