This 250 year old restaurant has lived as just a star on my map until today.
In all my days in Paris, this was the day my longing finally won, and I stepped inside (with my fingers crossed).
I asked about the private dining room favoured by presidents and diplomats and bohemians, who brought their mistresses there.
They led me upstairs, handed me a glass of water, and let me have the room for twenty minutes.
It is the mirrors I came to see, the glass etched with scratches.
When those mistresses were given diamonds, they would test their authenticity by dragging the stone across the mirror: if it scratched, it was real.
I added my own scratch, made with a diamond ring gifted to me by my sister.
SOUVENIR
by Constance McDonald & Catherine Boddy
A limited-edition artist publication.
38 pages in full colour, SOUVENIR is gloss-coated and bound in blue PLASTIKOIL®.
An edition of 50.
The publication extends beyond the page into a series of accompanying objects:
handmade thick cotton headbands, emblazoned with SOUVENIR in chocolate brown and black;
deadstock 1990s cotton underwear, screenprinted;
and waterproof phone stickers. (and a BIC lighter if you’re lucky…)
Northern Hemisphere (UK etc.) via Catherine Boddy’s website;
all other territories via direct message to Con.
You are a gift and the world is out to love you ❤️
With thanks to Andrea, Berry, Fatima, Josefine, Mar, and Mook. And Lieu (slide 7).
