Quoi de neuf - French shopping in November 2019
New products, designs and ideas from around France. This month: stay warm, festive drinks, sweet countdown, and gifted jewellers
Be cool, stay warm!
Whether you are an amateur skier, a downhill expert or just looking to fend off the cold this winter, Skidress has a stylish, high quality range of garments.
The company dates from 1930 in Strasbourg, and one of its founders, Alsatian industrialist Charles Diebold, helped to found Val D’Isère as a ski resort, as well as launching the first Ecole Française de Ski.
The eclectic clothing and accessories ranges for men and women include a gilet (main photo) from €149.
https://skidress.fr/en
Time for festive flamboyance
Established in 1862, cognac house Meukow was founded by Auguste-Christophe and Gustav Meukow, two brothers from Silesia, who were sent to France by Tsar Alexander II of Russia with orders to secure the supply of cognac for the Court.
Today the brand’s range – notable for the panther logo created in 1993 – is overseen by cellar master Anne Sarteaux, who rigorously monitors the blending and ageing process.
To maintain the Meukow style, she mainly uses Grande Champagne and Petite Champagne Cognacs, notable for the rich complexity of their floral notes.
For Christmas, Meukow has launched two gift items: a ‘coffret’ featuring a bottle of Meukow VS (notes of almond, confit orange and licorice) and two Melodia glasses (€35.90); and a festively flamboyant red bottle (pictured left), priced €38.50 for 70cl.
www.meukowcognac.com/en
A sweet countdown
Who doesn’t love an advent calendar?
Indulge your inner child in the run-up to Christmas with an exciting daily treat from Bonne Maman.
The French jam and biscuit maker has launched its 2019 Calendrier de l’Avent with 24 sweet surprises, ranging from small pots of jam to pâtes de fruits and sablé biscuits.
How will you resist opening just one window a day?
The calendar is priced €29.99, and available exclusively in shops.
www.bonne-maman.com
Gifted jewellers
Paris concept store Empreintes, located at 5 rue de Picardie in the Haut-Marais, specialises in Made in France artisan craft pieces, with a huge range of products encompassing everything from furniture and leather goods to tableware, glass or crystalware, and from soft furnishings to one-off jewellery pieces.
As well as the in-store buying option, it also has a website packed with gift ideas and producer profiles, while for latest additions to the range you can visit the company’s Instagram page.
Among the Christmas present ideas offered as we go to press are, clockwise from top right: an ethnic sapphire ring by Andréa Chereau (€58); the Ventome ring by Marthe Cresson (approx €115); Salomé Charly’s D Vernon necklace, handcut from cherry wood (€175); and, inset, Amandine Jannin’s Ciel ring (18K white gold, blue topaz and paving with precious stones), priced €5,900.
www.empreintes-paris.com/en
