THE BRIEF

the Librairie Chantelivre, owned by L’école des loisirs and located on rue de Sèvres in Paris, had not been renovated since 1997. In 2022, the bookshop called on the Lonsdale branding and design agency to reaffirm its identity.

OUR RECOMMENDATION

Our Lonsdale AKDV teams redesigned the 400m2 bookshop as a stroll through the heart of the Jardin du Luxembourg: from the entrance, a backdrop of Parisian facades and roofs welcomes visitors and guides them step by step towards the garden. The stroll continues under the large glass roof, the orangery, the small kiosks, the beehives… towards a dreamlike universe where nature is denser, right up to the hut that marks the entrance to the Maison des Histoires.

A specially designed Haussmann-style lounge, dedicated to the house’s authors, invites you to take a reading break around a large bench that brings back to life the boa emblematic of the bookshop’s history in the 70s and 80s.

A fresco by illustrator Juliette Lagrange supports the narrative and accompanies walkers along a path punctuated with surprises and secret passages.

As part of a responsible approach, some of the furniture has been salvaged and reused in the different areas, including the old parquet flooring used to build the Cabane and the facade, which has been given a facelift and repainted.