At 20 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, raw concrete walls displaying an artwork by French artist David Douard aren’t the sign of an art gallery setting up shop for Art Basel Paris.
A pair of trunks opening and closing like clamshells marks the address as the new flagship of French heritage trunk maker Au Départ.
Formerly a maze of split-level spaces home to lingerie brand La Perla, the four-level 3,500-square-foot unit is undergoing a major overhaul, with 880 square feet on the ground floor that currently serves as the brand’s boutique.
Among its new features are a 9-meter-high entrance tapping the light from the building’s original first-floor windows and an arched glass window at the back that gives a peek an industrial-looking staircase leading upward, as work continues.
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In time, the top floors will include offices and space for cultural programs that will launch here before traveling around the world. Meanwhile, the lower level will also play a part in the store experience.
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For the opening during Paris’ art-focused week, Au Départ staged “The World Question Center 2024” in partnership with the Paris-based Chantal Crousel gallery, inspired by a 1969 participatory performance by American artist James Lee Byars.
For all that, the focus of the Faubourg Saint-Honoré flagship is also Au Départ’s bag offer, which spans 11 references and 52 variations, ranging from coated canvas totes to large leather bags. There are also small leather goods and a carry-on suitcase.
Founded in 1834 and considered the oldest French leather goods brand, it relaunched in 2019 with coated canvas-based travel goods and a bespoke trunk offer. Since early 2023, it is putting a greater focus on leather-based styles.
Shapes and hardware take cues from geometric features of the Tuileries gardens, nod to medical bags, revisit the hexagonal motif found in its signature canvas — doubling up as a nod to France’s nickname of “The Hexagon” — and even a hot-air balloon that was found in the archives.
There’s even a strikingly of-the-moment closure directly inspired by a 1960s Au Départ purse, displayed in a nearby case. Lavender is the signature color of this new era, a pale hue that feels modern while tied to romance and freedom in the past.
Made in the brand’s French ateliers, these designs with monikers like Tuileries and Belleville take between 28 and 40 hours apiece.
“At 190 years old, Au Départ may come from a long line of heritage and archive but we live in 2024,” a spokesperson from the company said. “The traditional route of hammering away about 1834 isn’t for us. We want to let people how where we come from but I’m more excited about where we are going.”
Hence the creation of the Au Départ Art Collective, an art-centric hub driven by the brand that will see collaborations with artists and galleries as well as other cross-disciplinary activations. It will also facilitate donations of works to museums around the world, starting with a large-scale Douard piece that will be presented to the ICA Miami in December.
Also signaling Au Départ’s art-minded era is its retail development plan, tied loosely to the art fair calendar. The brand will be working with a selected cadre of stockists, including Boontheshop in Seoul where it launched during Frieze Seoul and several Dover Street Market locations.
December will see the brand land at The Webster just in time for Art Basel Miami, a period where it is also planning a major activation and collaboration.
It will also land at Los Angeles’ Just One Eye boutique in time for the city’s edition of Frieze in February.