louis-gabriel nouchi

— following the inauguration of his first boutique in Paris, Louis-Gabriel Nouchi tells us all about his wild project.

October 24, 2020

How did you choose the location?

We opened our boutique at the beginning of September at 4 rue Oberkampf, 75011, in Paris. We had been looking for somewhere in Paris suburbs to move our offices to for organizational reasons and, in any case, we had to move so that we could have more space because the team keeps getting bigger and bigger. We hadn’t planned to open a boutique and we certainly never thought we’d find such a great location! We went past the place one day and contacted the people on the number displayed on the notice, who told us that the premises were available. That was back in January. With the lockdown that followed, we had a sharp increase in online sales, which confirmed our decision to move into the premises in rue Oberkampf so that we could fully develop the bran’s style. In these troubled times, having a place where the brand could settle down and people could meet is even more important to back the enormously successful online sales sector. The boutique also means that we can be completely autonomous with things that we couldn’t do before: stock revaluation, exclusive products that allow us to test the market, photoshoots space, a central meeting place for all the people involved in the brand, etc. The studio is just above the boutique so we can control things even more closely and obtain valuable feedback on the brand and the garments. It’s like a little house for the entire team, and I also love the Parisian side of the boutique with its wooden flooring and decorative moldings.

Who helped you (how did you decorate it, where did you find the furniture, the books and so on)?

Adrien Poznanski was in charge of the artistic direction of the boutique and furnished it to create an atmosphere somewhere between a contemporary art gallery and Haussmann-style apartment. We needed something bright and airy, neutral and yet warm and welcoming. I didn’t want people to be afraid of coming in: that’s the impression I have sometimes about certain boutiques where just the appearance makes you think that the smallest thing is going to be exorbitant. We wanted to make literature a tangible part of the decor, by adding for example the bookcase-dressing-room, with all the books spine-inwards. So they’re like a printed fabric, anonymous and offering boundless inspiration for future collections. Each customer, if s/he wants to of course, randomly chooses a book and takes a selfie with it. The relationship between the chosen book and the person is often quite interesting and I like the unique experience which is specific to the boutique. Everything in here has been gleaned from environmentally-friendly sources: the furniture is vintage or bought on Leboncoin (Leboncoin is a web platform where people can buy and sell things on a peer-to-peer basis), the items on display were recovered from La Réserve des Arts in Pantin, coat hangers are made using recycled fabric. We’ve tried to keep as much of the original features as possible. It’s the approach and ethos we follow when making our clothing, so it seemed logical to continue in the same vein and keep a clear conscience. We even keep the materials from some of the parcels we receive to dress our shop windows!