Home > Media > Books > Laura Morelli - Made in France: A Shopper's Guide to France's Best Artisanal Traditions from Limoges Porcelain to Perfume, Pottery, Textiles, and More
Laura Morelli - Made in France: A Shopper's Guide to France's Best Artisanal Traditions from Limoges Porcelain to Perfume, Pottery, Textiles, and More
pambo's Full Review: Laura Morelli - Made in France: A Shopper's Guide ...
All Gaul may have been divided into three parts in the ancient world, but in "Made in France: A Shopper's Guide to France's Best Artisanal Traditions from Limoges Porcelain to Perfume, Pottery, Textiles and More," the country is in six pieces.
All the better to absorb what the knowledgeable author has seen and assesses for readers, in a well-organized and enlightening bundle of details and facts.
Author Laura Morelli, who has written a similar book about Italy, divides France into these areas for shoppers and travelers:
Paris
Northeastern France
Northwestern France and the Loire Valley
Central and Eastern France
Southwestern France
Southeastern France
The author clearly loves France and its fine traditions of craftsmanship and she does a great job of imparting her reasons why--you'll walk away convinced you need to hop the next plane over there. She follows essentially the same path, one that a shopper might want whether moving from area to area or simply staying in one region.
Starting with Paris, she describes its many neighborhoods and its artisans who specialize in embellishment, making hats and fans, gilded frames, upholstery trim and custom fabrics. In the Bastille neighborhood, she notes the many furniture makers and frame makers. On the Left Bank are the tapestry and porcelain antiques dealers. And the city, despite being home to so many artisans, also serves as the showcase of products from the rest of the country. She takes us through metalsmithing, embroidery and furniture specialists, with a notation that armoires, a staple of Parisian apartments, can often be purchased and shipped to the United States for less than the price of one bought here. Her Parisian tour is then followed by a 22-page listing of shops she recommends in Paris and the outskirts, with address, website, where available, and phone number.
And on this lovely book goes through the other regions of France, occasionally decorated with photos of the items at hand or the tools involved or the artisan at work.
In Northeastern France, we see crystal and pottery; in Northwestern France and the Loire Valley, it’s textile arts and copperware; Central and Eastern France gives us the breadbasket, literally and figuratively, offering food and its basket containers, as well as pottery and porcelain; Southwestern France yields cognac, berets and linens, while Southeastern France gives us bubbled glass, perfume and figurines. These are only the highlights on this stimulating tour.
But it's not just the goods or the shops that we learn about. She stops to explain differences in cultures that help us, as reader or shopper, to be better informed. For example, she writes about the word "manufacture" and how in English, the word came to have an industrial tone to it. But in French, it continues to mean "made by hand." ("usine" is the French equivalent for "industrial factory.")
Similarly, we learn about erratic shop hours, the French custom of not touching goods without asking first, and shop identification, such as “marche aux puces” meaning flea market, and “fait maison” meaning homemade. We get advice on how to ship items home in one piece, how to recognizing authentic work and The book is chockablock full of these kinds of shopping tips designed to keep clumsy foreigners from making a faux pas.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.