The gorgeous, painted bright-blue façade first drew me in, and then I saw the bright jumble of kitsch arrayed in the window. The contents of that wonderful store nearly tumble out onto the sidewalk, its exuberance and buoyant enthusiasm contained only by the window-glass. It shouted,"Come on in and play !"

The staff at Pylônes was no different; animated and helpful, dressed in offbeat and colorful threads, one of the young shopkeepers showed me around and answered my questions regarding the some of the cool and colorful products and their designers. I soon learned that almost all these items in the shop were proudly designed in France.

Tired of your boring desk at work, spice it up with a frog computer mouse and a lily-pond mouse-pad, throw in a lady bug stapler and dragon pen and you’re all set to impress your boss and stun your co-workers. If you loved "Revenge of the Were-rabbit", well then Wallace and Grommet are crackin-well represented in the store with corkscrews and wine-stoppers and other items relating to their recent cinematic success.

I fell in love with a bright-red PVC watering can shaped purse called "Garden Party sac à main," it was shouting my name, and I couldn’t help myself. But for €21, this will be a welcomed gifts for my kitsch-loving niece’s next birthday. I also succumbed to temptation to buy a few other designer items. One that tops my list as very clever is a combination chop-stick/fork utensil (pictured here), strangely named "Baguettes".



watering can sacs

I did THINK of getting a bright-green ring that lights up and flashes on and off to annoy my husband and friends, but didn’t dare. I did however surrendered to adding three more delightfully painted "pin-birds" to my collection. These ingenious little darlings are magnetized to keep care of stray pins and needles at your sewing space. The last thing I couldn’t resist was a cute little brunette with a blur dress that would be helpful around the kitchen enabling me to grate tons of fragrant Gruyere over my next bowl of soupe de l’oignon.



three things I bought

This cool little design shop is really worth a look if only to browse through all the random, colorful, mostly useful and sometimes crazy stuff. Before you know it, you will be under the Pylônes’ spell and I defy you not to take home at least one item; if not for that very unusual souvenir, then to indulge yourself with a unique and rather hip conversation piece.

There are four other Pylones boutiques in Paris, six in Japan, and two in the US in NYC that all employ French as well as local designers for their products.