A little over four years ago, I decided to give books a bigger place in my daily life. Le Grand Jeu has been a bookstore since 2014, but until recently, most of my time was dedicated to exhibitions. Books were always around, just not at the center.
Changing that took time — and quite a bit of energy — but I was convinced there was a need, in Paris and beyond, for a bookstore like the one now taking shape at 15 Passage de Ménilmontant. I get confirmation almost every day, in the eyes of people who walk in for the first time: a mix of curiosity, and surprise. Some have become friends. That’s exactly what I was hoping for.
Now that the bookstore has almost found its rhythm, I wanted the website to follow suit. It’s now split into three main sections:
  • the shop – for buying online, of course
  • the journal – for sharing what we’re doing, reading, and thinking about
  • Paperware – a side project I’ll be introducing soon
To mark this new phase, I asked Paolo Proserpio to design a new visual identity. We decided to include a graffiti we found one morning on our storefront: “Pour ceux qui bougent” (“For those who move”).
Habemus new logo!

Someone—possibly the FCK crew, though we’re not sure since their name was added a few days later—had painted it just a few days after we’d repainted everything. It felt like the perfect mood.

Le Grand Jeu's storefront, June 2023
The new shop keeps the same structure as before, but with more categories and better sorting (magazines, zines, old school mags…). Rare books and goodies now have their own dedicated pages (which means that you won’t find them everywhere else on our website). We’re also putting together an online gallery that will showcase our exhibitions and projects — coming soon.
And then there’s this Journal. This has been on my mind for a while. Over the years, many of you have suggested I share more of what happens behind the scenes at Le Grand Jeu. Social media didn’t feel like the right format for that. So, here it is: a blog. I’ll write about books, of course, but I’ll also open the space to other voices. See you here — or at the bookstore.
Yours, Christian