SAINTS PÈRES
PARIS
FRANCE
I was in a hurry. I was walking down rue des Saints Pères, when I noticed Saints Pères. I am not sure if it was the red bricks, the stone wall or the porcelain pieces that triggered my curiosity. ‘Let’s go in’ I said with an immense excitement. I simply love exploring new places that have an interesting story to share, and I could already tell that Saints Pères was one of them.
Had I just entered a ceramics shop, a coffee shop or a bar? I didn’t know but I was about to find out. A wave of serenity and an intense aroma of fresh olive oil hit me as soon as I crossed the door. I still couldn’t figure it out…was I in a bar or a shop? Before I even finish my thoughts, a member of the staff approached me and finally solved the mystery. ‘Welcome to Saints Pères, an olive oil bar and a porcelain atelier’.
I looked around. A positive flow was dominating the space. There was something so earthy, and grounding but at the same time so airy and ethereal about it. I closed my eyes for a second. The textures and aromas of Saints Pères had transported me somewhere else.
They took me straight back to my grandmother’s olive grove and my childhood. Sun, heat, silence, an old stone wall and myself observing the shimmering summer sunrays filtering through the olive trees while waiting for my parents to finally agree on if the olive trees needed a last trimming or not. This was often a family debate.
What a nostalgic journey! A lifetime away… when life was a bit slower, when people were a bit purer, when craftmanship was woven into the daily routine unintentionally adding a sense of beauty, and at the same time profound functionality to everyday objects.
‘Enough nostalgia…back to the present’ I thought, and I started investigating more about their olive oil selection. Growing up in Greece and spending every summer in a region that produces some of the best olive oil in the world, has made me incredibly picky when it comes to oil! And yes, I do admit that initially I was pretty dubious. But, once I got to see some of their olive oil producers even the slightest hint of scepticism went way.
I guess Saints Pères’ ‘raw’ materials, their love for craftmanship and their niche selection of small olive oil producers from all over the world had already won me over. Several minutes and many photos later and after having explored every inch of the space, I left with a sense of reassurance. It felt so good that places like this still exist in the heart of a city like Paris. They are hard to find but they do exist…so new, so unique yet in a weird way so familiar!