Me sitting on a armchair/bed from Sweden
Leaving Paris also means leaving the job I had at Quintessence Playground. I worked there since 2010, it was a job I loved, it was very diverse, creative and I enjoyed working with antiques.
Ever since I was a child I loved spending hours on flea markets, always brought home old things…. I was a collector already back then ;-) My biological father was an architect and in my early ages I used to play with the house models he built…I thought that was much more fun than dressing up the Barbie dolls ;-) When I was studying Engineering I took many courses in 3d-modelling and when I bought my apartment in Stockholm I made all the plans and drawing before the total renovation of the entire apartment. Working at Quintessence Playground was therefore a natural step for me to discover and learn more about my interests.
There are many of you who have been asking exactly what I have been doing in the gallery and now I will explain my love-story with the job I was passionated about…
Quintessence Playground, me sitting next to the Eiffel Tower
Quintessence Playground is a 650 square meters concept store, the space is designed as a loft and features a selection of industrial furnitures and elements, exclusive antiques and unique curiosities. Some of the details that creates the unique ambience is the feature wall on the groundfloor that is covered with wallpaper created by the French designer Vincent Darré and the lightship installation made by the designer Alexandre de Betak that could be seen in the vitrina last February (2011).
I was involved in creating their website, I made a blog (Quintessence Lifestyle Blog for the owner Ludovic Messager) and a fanpage on Facebook. From time to time I also assisted in the decoration of the gallery and I also went on buying trips, throughout in France (south of France and some marché Antiquités Brocante on other places in France, and also to Antwerp in Belgium (two times in 2010 and 4-5 times in 2011), Sweden and Denmark for antiques digging.
I also did my own sourcing trips, went to Maison & Objét (a big international fair within interior) and to other flea markets in Paris.
Quintessence Playground, a bag we bought on one of our buying trips in Antwerp, Belgium. On the bed you can see a beautiful ancient dress that we bought in the flea market in 2010.
Since the concept-store is very big and constructed as a loft it is the perfect ambiance for photo shootings for designers making their lookbooks. I was involved in that work assisting in most of the parts. Just before I left I was also involved in the first process of a hotel-project and a very exciting restaurant project.
Most of Quintessence Playgrounds clients were designers, interior-designers and architects and celebrities, among them Philippe Starck, Paula Navone, Gisele Bündchen Madonna, Liv Tyler, Donna Karan, and Renzo Rosso. My work in the concept-store made me meet people I would have never met before and I was learning incredibly many things and at the same time I brought my knowledge and experience to improve the activities of the company.
Quintessence Playground
I loved going to work every day. Being a part of a job where giving new life to old things was like doing magic and that was the best part, taking care of and working in an environment filled up with beautiful objects and furnitures that had a past, a history.
Quintessence Playground, a beautiful mermaid with wings that we bought on Ile de Ré in the Spring of 2011
The gallery was like a second home for me, just like it was designed to be to match a lifestyle concept-store. I loved the rock’n’roll ambiance that was created with Gustavian furniture’s from Sweden, Louis XVI furniture’s from France, combined with industrial furnitures and objects…..enhanced with details such as skulls and fashion books completed the ambiance of Quintessence Playground.
Quintessence Playground, plates we bought in Antwerp, Belgium
It was not an easy decision quitting the work that I loved so much. I remember when the owner just had bought the big space, the walls we’re not painted yet and it was hard to imagine the result. I went along buying loads of color buckets for the painters to paint the walls, the ceiling etc….that was in the end of the summer of 2010…and I remember that Woody Allen was there on the same street at the same time with his film crew doing his movie “Midnight in Paris”, those of you who have seen it will recognize the flea market in some of the scenes.
Being there from the beginning of the birth of the new space of Quintessence Playground, being involved in the process and see how the owner gave life to his dreams and visions was an amazing experience and a journey I will never forget.
