I went to the Salon de la Création et du Savoir Faire (= DIY and craftsmanship show) two weeks ago!
The Porte de Versailles (note to non Parisians: this is nowhere near Versailles, a lot of visitors get confused) has a massive showroom where many shows and exhibits are organized regularly. I live about a 15 minute tram ride away so I sometimes go on a Sunday afternoon to potter around and soak up the very particular vibe that is created when a bunch of small-scale vendors are put together and have to battle for the visitors’ attention. I always enjoy looking around the various stalls, although I’m generally worn out after two hours because of all the noise and people and head home very thankfully for an « introvert hour ».
Before discovering Pinterest, I really struggled to find inspiration for DIY projects without buying bulky magazines that would contain maybe one good idea for 15 average ones. I’m really trying to get more involved in DIY lately and going to the Salon de la Création et du Savoir Faire was a wonderful way to do so.
The first part of the salon CSF exhibit was dedicated to food and cooking (fun, but not what I came for), then there was the workshop area followed by what I define as DIY heaven on Earth: rows upon rows of stalls selling everything you could possibly need to make just about anything you can imagine.
In my opinion, half of the fun is found in talking to the people selling the products. Not the ones who yell at you to come and check out their all-new shiny and impressive sewing machines, but the quiet ones who sell weird and wonderful things: engraved rolling pins, non-permanent glitter tattoos, painted Winter vegetables, homemade puzzles and hand pressed paper. I just walked around with a gaping mouth for most of my visit, forgetting to take photos half of the time because I was too busy trying to remember everything!
In the end, what I bought at the salon du DIY was fairly tame when compared with all of the products on offer! I chose a small and simple pink purse that was just screaming at me to sew a daisy on it. I took it home and did what I was told of course. There’s an article on that coming soon!
My specialty is cross stitch, so I was happy to find two big stalls overflowing with cross stitch kits. They were held by a British family, the father of which I had already met this summer at the Foire de Paris. This time, he had brought along his son who sold me a beautiful kit of a Japanese woman wearing a kimono and picking blossoms off a cherry tree. I just fell in love with it and couldn’t resist buying it, although I probably won’t have time to stitch it for many months yet.
I absolutely adored all of the origami and paper stalls. I realize that I haven’t spoken about it on the blog yet, but I LOVE stationery (the colours, the textures, even the smell) and have quite a collection of writing paper, origami paper and all different kinds of envelopes and notebooks. I’ve planned to share a bunch of origami projects here, but in the mean time, you can take a look at my Origami Pinterest board to get some inspiration if you like paper too!
I really enjoyed the time I spent at the Salon de la Création et du Savoir-Faire and I will definitely go again next year! I’m hoping that by that time, I will have used up my current collection of materials and sold some of the articles on my A Little Market shop so I can justify buying more supplies!
Did any of you go the Salon du DIY ? What did you think?
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