In an area that was once a hub of silver- and goldsmith works in Paris in the 19th century and beyond, only Lapparra maintains the tradition of creation and high craftsmen that are the duel hallmarks of the field—doing so at the same address since its founding in 1893.

While most other shops offering such high-end work in Paris are located in the 8th and 1st arrondissements, Lapparra is easily missed among the schlock jewelry shops that define commerce on this stretch of rue du Temple.

The shop feels as out of time as it does out of place. Various pieces may have an echo of Napoleon’s Josephine or of a Tsar or of Arabian night, and there might be a hint of Art Deco or of Art Nouveau or of your grandmother’s cutlery, however Lapparra doesn’t set out to create period pieces but rather to uphold classic spirit of the exacting marriage of high design and fine craftsmanship.

Olivier Gaube du Gers is the man behind the 21st-century revival of Lapparra. He bought the company in 1998 with the intent of reaffirming both the artistry and savoir faire of its creations.

“We aren’t only artists,” he says, “we want to maintain the trades that allow that artistry to be expressed.”

Wearing his signature bowtie and dandy smile, Mr. Gaube du Gers appears as at ease among the tapping, turning, firing, and precision pointing of his workshop as he does when presenting the final product to demanding buyers, or at least when showing those products to journalists.

Silver is the primary material used at Lapparra, but gold, crystal, porcelain, precious stones, and bronze are also employed here to make vases, cutlery, candlesticks and candelabras, dishware, trophies, and other ornamental pieces. Lapparra’s website shows some of the exquisite creations of silverware, tableware and decorative accessories.

Lapparra’s creations are designed to grace tables but its most publicly viewed works are the trophies lifted and embraced by winners of prestigious sporting events in France: Roland Garros (the French Open tennis tournament), the Le Mans 24-hour auto race, and the Grand Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe horserace, among others.

The famous Roland Garros salad bowl trophy, so frequently kissed in recent years by Rafael Nadal, was created by Lapparra in 1981. Under Mr. Gaube du Gers’ stewardship Lapparra’s workshop has also produced the exact copy of the bowl that’s used for creating the tournament draw and it continues to produce the exact reduced-size versions of the trophies that the winners take home.

Lapparra is by far the lesser known of the top-of-the-line smithing houses in its field in France. Another smithing house that was also founded in the Marais (in 1820) and has since moved into chicer quarters, isPuirforcat, which has its showroom at 48 avenue Gabriel in the 8th arrondissement and now belongs to Hermes.

Closer to Mr. Gaube du Gers’ heart is the grand old sliver- and goldsmith house Odiot, founded in 1690. Not only did Mr. Gaube du Gers get his start in the business of fine tableware and decorative accessories at Odiot but Odiot once belonged to him, and before him his father.

Mr. Gaube du Gers the elder had purchased that venerable house in 1973 and, in 1974 he asked his son, otherwise schooled as an architect, to come work with him for a short time. That short time turned into a lifelong calling, with Mr. Gaube du Gers eventually taking over Odiot on his father’s death. A series of events, including a devastating robbery at Odiot’s showroom by the Madeleine in 1993 and the opening of the Odiot’s capital to investors, led to Mr. Gaube du Gers’ departure from the company in 1996.

(Odiot now belongs to the holding company Investors in Private Equity (IPE) via the Compagnie Européene de Luxe et Traditions (CELT). The Odiot shop is located at 7 place de la Madeleine in the 8th arrondissement.)

After a brief stint as artistic director at Daum, the luxury crystal maker, Mr. Gaube du Gers seized on the opportunity to return to his core interests in artistry and craftsmanship with the purchase of Lapparra in 1998.

Puirforcat and Odiot naturally have a more worldwide presence through shops in major capitals. Nevertheless, 70% of Lapparra’s production is exported. In 2005 Lapparra received the prize for “best creativity” by the French Exporters Club.

Lapparra, 157 rue du Temple, 3rd arrondissement. Tel 01 42 72 16 20. www.lapparra.com. You may not immediately notice the sign for Lapparra but will surely see the sign ORFEVRE, meaning goldsmith/silversmith, over the entrance at the back of the courtyard. While Lapparra’s showroom/shop is open to the public, this is largely a house for connoisseurs and clients of prestige. Feel free to stop by, but if interested in customized work it’s best to call ahead to make an appointment either by calling ahead or through the contact form on their website.

© 2010, Gary Lee Kraut

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Catherine de Beauvais was a premier lady in waiting and confidante to Anne of Austria, Louis XIV’s mother and regent during his minority. Some historians claim the queen mother put Catherine up to a seductive encounter in the stairwell of the Louvre. Catherine was about 40, Louis 16. Their age difference and the fact that Catherine is said to have been an unattractive but hot-blooded woman with a bad eye (the court nicknamed her Cateau la Bornesse, One-Eye Catty) only make the story that much more plausible. In contemporary terms we would call this the encounter of a winner of American Idol with someone quickly eliminated from Cougars and Kittens.

Nowadays a parent can get arrested for being so devoted to a boy’s needs. But if Anne had indeed been pulling the strings then she may have had the lofty desire to keep the young king from getting involved with the wrong sort of kitten, or perhaps to simply test the boy’s manhood. Modern rumor-mongers would note that the king was at the time rather dubiously fond of ballet.

Whatever the truth, Catherine’s devotion to Anne earned Catherine and her understanding husband Pierre elevation to the status of baroness and baron de Beauvais, along with funds sufficient enough that they could join the 17th-century carriage-set by building a mansion in the Marais.

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Anyway, as I was saying, I was headed there the other day to take some pictures of Catherine’s house, when, well, you know how it goes, you set out to see a sight on the right side of the street but something on the left side of the street catches your eye. In this case it was the tiles in the window of Villa Paris and a view of Olivier Mangnez, the shop owner, at his drafting board.

Villa Paris isn’t a tile shop per se but rather Olivier Mangnez’s showroom. He specializes in old-fashion, artisan-made tiles of terracotta, stone, and enamel, including collections of delft, azulejos, marble marquetry, mosaics, and others. They are made à l’ancienne in the countries where the individual styles originated or where bygone traditions of production are maintained: France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Morocco. Though numerous examples can be seen in the showroom, Villa Paris isn’t actually a place for browsing but for playing with ideas and making informed choices. Most of Mr. Mangnez’s visitors are either decorators seeking a particular style or homeowners seeking high-quality, customized work for a specific space.

In addition to projects throughout France, Mr. Mangnez works with decorators involved in high-end projects overseas. His American credentials include tiles for a Cuban-style home in Miami, terracotta in Boston, and mosaic in New York. He has also worked with Americans decorating their Paris pied-à-terres.

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Rue François Miron, the street on which Villa Paris is located, is a wonderful cross-section of the charms of Paris, both for its 17th- and 18th-century buildings and for storefront activities. On a relatively short street high, you’ll find, reading start to finish, i.e. from behind Hôtel de Ville/City Hall to rue de Rivoli: a little-visited church, some pretty wrought iron, a hip café-bar, two half-timbered buildings (a rarity in Paris), a swinger’s club (common in Paris), a sleepy local café that you know someone is dying to turn chic and international, an old spice shop, a pretty bakery, several restaurants, Villa Paris, the Hôtel de Beauvais, a historical society, a Scottish pub, a cross-street where you can get run over, and a row of picture-perfect food shops. It’s enough to make you want to buy an apartment right away on that very street and ask Olivier Mangnez to create a mosaic for your bathroom, design marble marquetry for your entrance, and pose tiles showing old food trades in your kitchen!

Though now an attractive side-street, rue François Miron is in fact the historical road into the heart of Paris from the west, paved when this was the entrance to the Roman city and heavily trafficked with medieval commerce entering Paris via the barrier by the Bastille. (The street was eventually bypassed with the development in the 19th century of rue de Rivoli). In the 17th century Catherine and Pierre’s house was so well situated to watch the traffic entering the city that in 1660, six year after Catherine’s alleged moment in the Sun King (or vice versa), Anne of Austria again honored her loyalty by choosing that balcony as the place from which to witness, along with an A-list of guests, the entrance of Louis XIV and his cousin-bride Maria Teresa into Paris.

The Hôtel de Beauvais, one of the last mansions in the Marais to have been completely renovated (completed in 2003), is now occupied by the Court of Appeals for administrative matters, but the courtyard can be visited upon innocent smile to the guard. You’ll notice the ram and lion heads above the ground floor; the ram (belier) makes reference to Catherine’s maiden name, Bellier. It’s best to ignore the fact that Catherine died at 75 under the weight of debt, forgotten (if ever truly known) by the king, and instead to think of her as she was known to her peers: a mature, hot-blooded baroness, willing to pay for it.

A plaque in the courtyard indicates that 7-year-old Mozart stayed here (at the time residence of the ambassador from Bavaria) while in Paris for several months in 1763, during which he was taken to Versailles to wow the Court of Louis XV.

I meant to take pictures of the Hôtel de Beauvais to show some details but by the time I left Villa Paris the sun had set and it was already closed. The Scottish pub a few doors down was just coming alive.

Villa Paris, 31 rue François Miron, 4^th arr. Tel. 01 42 74 07 05. E-mail villa-paris@cegetel.net. Site www.villa-paris.com. Open Mon.-Fri. 10am-1pm and 2:30pm-6:30pm.

© 2007 by Gary Lee Kraut

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