Empreintes: the Parisian address for a made-in-France Christmas gift for everyone

In the Haut-Marais district, in the heart of the creative Paris we love to stroll through in December, you’ll find Empreintes: a concept store dedicated to French arts and crafts. Here, gifts are never banal. They are chosen, crafted and imagined by the crème de la crème of contemporary artisans and designers. Empreintes is the beautiful boutique that reconciles aesthetics, meaning and emotion, the place where you’ll find the perfect present for every personality, from the design enthusiast to the discreet collector, from the fashion girl to the modern poet. It’s impossible to leave empty-handed, as each floor conceals a magical, coherent and wildly inspiring universe.

Designer jewelry: precious signatures that tell a story

If there’s one space that makes the heart beat faster, it’s jewelry. Sculpted necklaces, architectural rings, brushed silver earrings, pieces in porcelain or hammered gold… The designers represented at Empreintes work the material with a rare sensitivity. Jewelry becomes a miniature work of art, an aesthetic manifesto as much as a modern talisman. Each piece is unique or in a very limited series, stamped with the personality of the craftsman: soft, bold, mineral, organic. To offer a piece of jewelry found at Empreintes is to offer a fragment of soul, a handcrafted gesture that is worn daily like a confidence. And there’s something for every budget!

Objets d’art: the poetry of form, gesture and material

Empreintes is also a must for lovers of applied contemporary art. Figurative sculptures, abstract pieces, murals, objects in paper, metal, blown glass or ceramics… all bear witness to an exceptional technical mastery sublimated by an almost painterly creativity.

Here, materials live, transform and tell their own story. The objets d’art at Empreintes are gifts that make a lasting impression, becoming life-long companions and giving an interior an instant aura of cultivated elegance. To offer such a piece is to choose the exclusive: the object that can be found nowhere else.

Art of the home: functional elegance, from small detail to big effect

Empreintes is an absolute paradise for those who like to offer something beautiful, truly beautiful, for installation in the home. Stoneware vases with deep glazes, hand-crafted bowls and plates, sculptural lighting fixtures, hand-woven textiles, mouth-blown carafes, turned wooden trays… You’ll find pieces that combine utility and style, simplicity and sophistication. Each object is designed to dress an interior with warmth and personality. Nothing standardized : just creations that breathe gesture, time and attention. Gifts that transform everyday life into an aesthetic ritual.

Designers’ worlds: an immersion in singularity and know-how

Empreintes is also a showcase for dozens of different creative worlds. Each creator has his or her own voice, palette and preferred materials. Some explore plants and minerals, others geometry, still others the randomness of raw materials. The boutique becomes a crossroads of sensibilities, where we discover the intimate vision of each craftsman. We no longer simply offer an object: we offer an encounter, a universe, an aesthetic. It’s this singularity that makes Empreintes such a rare and precious destination.

Our favorite:Étienne Viollet‘s creations. Étienne Viollet trained in drawing at the Pivaut school in Nantes, where, for four years, he honed his sense of composition, color and contrast, while discovering the Bic® pen as the central tool in his black-and-white universe, questioning the animality of man and the humanity of animals. At the same time, he explores paper in all its dimensions – grain, thickness, rigidity – and learns to transform it from 2D plan to 3D volume through pattern-making. This mastery has given rise to poetic objects, illustrated to order, cut and folded with precision, culminating in the beeswax-waterproofed paper vases that are the fruit of a year’s research, and which invite both daydreaming and travel.

The ideal gift for everyone: from affordable favourites to collector’s items

Empreintes fully embraces its diversity: you’ll find everything from a small gift to slip into a hood, a delicate candle jar, a small piece of jewelry, an artist’s mug, to collector’s items designed to mark a special event. We’ve thought of everything to suit every personality and budget. Each gift becomes a declaration of love for beauty and a tribute to the craftsmen who passionately perpetuate French excellence. If Christmas had to have one address, it would be Empreintes. A boutique where you can stroll, dream and fall in love with rare objects. A place that makes you want to give something different, with meaning, style and intention. All you have to do is choose!

Practical info

• Address: Empreintes, 5 rue de Picardie, 75003 Paris
• Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 7pm, and 7 days a week in December until Christmas.
• EMPREINTES is also a marketplace where artisans sell their creations directly from the workshop.