The New Paris Podcast

The work to live vs live to work ideology was among the earliest characteristics of French life that appealed to me as a student. I didn’t know the extent to which that would bear out until I had lived in Paris for a number of years and discovered it firsthand. For Ajiri Aki, the Nigerian-American founder of the online linens and antiques brand Madame de la Maison, her decade in Paris has similarly crystallised a number of life lessons which she has now put on paper in her new book: Joie, a Parisian’s Guide to Celebrating the Good Life. Ajiri was one of the women I was fortunate enough to profile in The New Parisienne and is also a dear friend so I’m excited to get to have her on the show to dig into this beautiful, inspiring project.

Mentioned in this episode:

Madame de la Maison

Ajiri Aki on Instagram

Joie (order the book!)

OECD report on French productivity

Paula Sutton, Hill House Vintage

Marché aux Puces de Saint Ouen

Marché Vernaison

Victoria Antiques

Foire de Chatou

Thanks to Matthew Jordan for technical production and editing on this episode!

Much like fashion, Paris is a global reference for design. There are the iconic interiors one might imagine when thinking of Paris but then there are the more sceney or concepty places that seem to have big design firms and big investors behind them. In the last 8 or so years, it feels like every new spot has a resident interior designer or architect or a theme that they’re going for. In some ways, it feels more like London with its developed restaurant groups and their sharp designs. What might explain the proliferation of more global less local styles in restaurants and hotels in Paris? Who have been some of the tastemakers over the years and what defines the kind of look and feel we’re seeing now? To get to the bottom of it, I chat with Tala Gahragozlou, an interior architect who trained with and worked for Frank Gehry, has worked for Soho House, India Mahdavi, The Hoxton, and with her design collective Atelier Ramo, designed Bleu Bao and Bao Express, two restaurants from the group Bao Family.

Mentioned in this episode:

Atelier Ramo 

India Mahdavi 

Hotel Costes 

Jacques Garcia

Thierry Costes

Buddha Bar

Christian Liaigre 

Joseph Dirand

Paris Society spots (Monsieur Bleu, Girafe..) 

Stéphane Jego’s L’Ami Jean 

Septime 

Frenchie / Gregory Marchand

Big Mamma Group

Touriste Hotels / Adrien Glouagen 

Café des Deux Gares 

Soho House

The Hoxton

La Samaritaine 

Cheval Blanc 

Maxime Frédéric pastry chef 

Thanks to Matthew Jordan for technical production and editing on this episode!

The music you’ve just been listening to was performed by today’s guest, Bonnie Brown, a concert pianist and piano instructor who works out of her home in Paris. She joins me to talk about her connection to France, working as a musician, and the places she loves most to listen to music in Paris. 

PS. If you’re a fan of the show, please share it with a friend and leave a review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you stream your podcasts! It helps ensure the show gets discovered by new listeners. And if you’d like to support my work and storytelling, you can also find me on Substack where I run a newsletter with additional content for paid subscribers. That’s called The New Paris Dispatch (bonjour.lindseytramuta.com). Thanks for listening!

Mentioned in this episode:  

Bonnie Brown

The Australian National Academy of Music

Ross Edwards, Australian composer

La Philharmonie de Paris

Salle Pleyel

Théâtre du Châtelet

Thanks to Matthew Jordan for technical production and editing on this episode!

If you were to walk the streets of Paris today, you’d see about 7,000 tons of garbage piling up on sidewalks. The stench after a week of no garbage collection is, you might say, ungodly. Some residents have seen an uptick in rat socialising. And according to reports, this could go on until at least next Monday March 20th. This trash assault is the result of strikes in response to the Macron government’s pension reform plans which lawmakers are debating and voting on this very week. In this short episode, I provide some context for the reforms, how the population at large perceives the proposed changes, and what the strikes have meant for residents (naturally, my opinion is thrown into the mix!). Links below for further reading: 

City of ... Garbage? Paris, amid strikes, is drowning in trash.
Macron's Pension Reform Passes the Senate. Now what?
Video of the scene from my friend Jay Swanson
The New Paris Dispatch newsletter

Thanks to Matthew Jordan for technical production and editing on this episode!

If I think about some of the women that have defined Parisian and French history, I instantly think of Marie Antoinette. The long maligned figure of French royalty and one of many unfortunate symbols of the French Revolution, the former queen has rarely been painted in a positive light. But what if that is an incomplete story? What if new scholarship points to a more nuanced picture of Marie Antoinette and the empresses that followed in her footsteps? That’s part of what today’s guest uncovered in her new book "Marie Antoinette’s Legacy: The Politics of French Garden Patronage and Picturesque Design". Dr. Susan Taylor Leduc, an art historian, previous guest, fellow guide who runs Picturesque Voyages, joins me today to talk about the world’s obsession with Marie Antoinette, her role within the royal court, what pop culture has gotten wrong about her, and the parallels with depictions of Parisian women today.

Mentioned in this episode:

Susan Taylor Leduc and Picturesque Voyages
Susan's book "Marie Antoinette's Legacy"
Episode 83, a previous conversation with Susan Taylor Leduc
Sofia Coppola's film "Marie Antoinette"
The BBC series Marie Antoinette reviewed by The Guardian 

Thanks to Matthew Jordan for technical production and editing on this episode!

If I think about some of the women that have defined Parisian and French history, I instantly think of Marie Antoinette. The long maligned figure of French royalty and one of many unfortunate symbols of the French Revolution, the former queen has rarely been painted in a positive light. But what if that is an incomplete story? What if new scholarship points to a more nuanced picture of Marie Antoinette and the empresses that followed in her footsteps?

That’s part of what today’s guest uncovered in her new book Marie Antoinette’s Legacy: The Politics of French Garden Patronage and Picturesque Design. Dr. Susan Taylor Leduc, an art historian, previous guest, fellow guide who runs Picturesque Voyages, joins me today to talk about the world’s obsession with Marie Antoinette, her role within the royal court, what pop culture has gotten wrong about her, and the parallels with depictions of Parisian women today.

Susan Taylor Leduc and Picturesque Voyages

Episode 83, a previous conversation with Susan Taylor Leduc

If you were to scan a Parisian city block, you’ll land on at least one caviste or wine seller. But while there are a lot of them, they’re not all created equal. Alison Eastaway, an Australian who has lived in Paris for 12 years and today’s guest, saw an opportunity to offer something different. She left her last career in tech to start Cavewoman Wines, a wine store and tasting room in the 11th arrondissement which opened last July. On today’s show, We talk about nonlinear career paths, the impetus for opening Cavewoman wines and some of her favorite producers.

Cavewoman Wines

I wasn’t going to publish another episode this year but then the World Cup Final happened, and President Macron went cringe and inspired a whole new conversation I simply had to have before the new year. There’s no better person to discuss Macron with than Rym Momtaz, the former France Correspondent for Politico who spent years reporting on the Macron administration and currently a consulting research fellow on European Foreign Policy and Security with the IISS. We dig into what happened, whether sports are necessarily political, and what challenges lays ahead for the French president in the coming year.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Macron's Cringe Behavior at the World Cup Final

Rym’s work for Politico

IISS organization 

Of all the incredible foods in Paris, which do you think gets consumed the most? If your instincts led you to say pizza you’d be correct. By some estimates, the French as a whole are the world’s second biggest consumers of pizza after the United States. As the capital, Paris is understandably swarming with pizza joints, some enjoyable and well done, but most of them forgettable. That is, until Dan Pearson, an American sourdough baker, came along and showed pizza lovers how good it really can be. Since the fall, he’s been leading the temporary pizza restaurant at Le Rigmarole, owned by the chefs Robert Compagnon and Jessica Yang, and becoming something of the culinary talk of the town. He joins me for this final episode of 2022 to talk about his journey into baking, what makes sourdough the perfect match for pizza, and how he feels about inspiring a new obsession among the most discerning diners in Paris.

Mentioned in this episode: 

Le Rigmarole

Dan Pearson

Mark Bittman's sourdough bread recipe and video 

Panic bakery Madrid 

Ten Belles Bread

Population wheat

It started with gâteau and continues with, well, more cake. And pastry, and Chocolate! For part two of my focus on sweets, I’m joined once again but an old friend of the show whose first book, Sweet Paris, was released earlier this year. My conversation with Frank Adrian Barron took place in my apartment so you’ll have to excuse any wood-floor echos and cat meows.

Cakeboy Paris Instagram

Cakeboy Paris website 

"Sweet Paris" the book

Maxime Frédéric at Cheval Blanc Paris 

Mori Yoshida

Cédric Grolet

Pierre Hermé

Alain Ducasse chocolate

Magnolia Bakery 

The Hood Paris (for Kaya and Pandan cake)