Aria @ Barnesbury Hall- London

Lofty ceiling, hardwood floors, modern, antiques, whimsical, impeccable design! This is Aria of London. Visit their wonderful website. Featuring contemporary designers. Love the fabulous chairs by Kartell, Victoria Ghost. The perfect partner for Louis Ghost, Victoria Ghost is suitable for use as a dining, ocassional or dressing table chair.

Repetto - Paris

Photo Credit Olivier

Photo Credit gourmandinage

Photo Credit Kathy

Photo Credit Jessica (make sure you visit her inspiring blog)

Many slippers waiting for ballerinas

Vintage Repetto Slippers

Photo Credit Olivier
Olivier is magical!

Yes, one goes to Paris to visit the Louvre, Musee D'orsay and the Eiffel Tower, but I also go for glorious window shopping. The vitrines are spectacular and breathtaking. A visual delight around every corner. My post today is about an institution in Paris. Repetto. I want to thank Kathy, Olivier, Gourmandinage, and Jessica for submitting their scrumptious pics, which perfectly captures the uniqueness of this cute shop. Please visit their sites and blog when you have a moment. You will get lost for hours!

Tutus and pointe shoes have fascinated me for decades. I was one of those who owned the ubiquitous poster of the leg warmers and tattered ballet slippers. There is something so special about a pair of ballet slippers. I bought white satin slippers from a local dance shop when I was a teenager and I wore them all the time...even wore them with my wedding dress. I remember seeing a shopkeeper in Frankenmuth, Michigan, wearing a pair of black ballet slippers as she worked the gigantic loom in her cute shop. It was an enchanting image.

So, Repetto...here is the story. In 1947, Rose Repetto, started creating ballet slippers for her son who was a famous ballet dancer and choreographer in France. From her little studio, she began making slippers for many local ballerinas. In 1956, Brigitte Bardot, asked Rose to make her red fashion slippers for the film, And God Created Women. Those crimson ballerina flats pushed Rose into the fashion stratosphere. She created ballerina-inspired shoes that became the rage for a very long time. In 1959, she opened her first cute shop at 22 rue de la Paix, where it still is today. Repetto was the place where all the prima ballerinas went for their slippers and pointe shoes.

After Rose passed away in the 80's, Repetto struggled for a few years until Reebok guru, Jean-Marc Gaucher, purchased the riddled company in 1999. Repetto still makes slippers for dancers using the traditional hand made stitch and returned method, but today, Mr. Gaucher has created a reputation for stylish footwear beyond the dance floor. Kate Moss, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Catherine Deneuve, Céline Dion, Sarah Jessica Parker and Hillary Clinton all wear the newly designed Repetto. The shoes are inspired by dance styles such as tango and salsa and have a vintage appeal. If anyone has a pair of Repetto shoes, I would love to hear a review. I can only imagine that they are extremely comfortable considering the foundation is made to handle hours of dancing.

The Repetto website is charming - http://www.repetto.com/. And, next time you are in Paris, check out Musee D'orsay Degas collection of dancers. Fabulous!

Cowgirl Creamery

Photo credit dionhinchcliffe

Photo Credit wastrel

Phot Credit - Zanyshani

Sue Conley and Peggy Smith opened Cowgirl Creamery in Pt. Reyes Station, CA. The venture started in an old barn. They created an artisan cheese plant and shop and started producing wonderful cheeses made with organic milk from their neighbor, Straus Family Creamery. Then they opened up another cute cheese shop in San Francisco. They make a select collection of soft and aged cheeses. Today their business includes their original shop, one in San Francisco and Washington DC. They also built a second creamery in Petaluma, CA in 2008.

Why artisan cheese?These ladies believe artisan cheesemaking preserves a rural way of life. That farmstead cheese from small-scale producers always has a story, quite unlike large scale cheese factories. One can name a cheese and identify its cheese maker, the breed of cow, goat or sheep and where it grazed. It is that special! All of the cheesemakers that they work with have great respect for the land and the animals and feel they are the stewards of the farmland and animals. Artisan cheesemaking helps to insure jobs in rural areas, and contribute to protecting farmlands from development.

This is a great story and I encourage you to visit their website and try some of their delicious creations.

Sabater Hnos (Hermanos) - Buenos Aires

Photo Credit- Marcela

Photo Credit BradleyB

photo credit- Ryan

photo credit- Mari

Located in the cool and trendy Palermo district of Buenos Aires is a 70 year old soap company with a new vibe. Sabater Hnos has been producing wonderful soaps for three generation. Siblings Eliana, Martin, and Sebastian Sabater have revamped the company image, giving it a hip edge. They preserved the traditional manufacturing methods, but updated the scents to include green tea and cedar and created new and funky soap shapes that look like people, animals, grains, confetti and paint chips. The interior of the shop is embellished with retro beakers and other soap making apparatuses as well as pics from the past. The colors of the soaps are beautiful and lively...a soap for everyone. I love how they are displayed in simple cardboard boxes. Pure and simple!

Ami Loutky - Prague--- strings attached!

Photo Credit Daynoir

Prague is the largest city in the Chech Republic. Everyone loves visiting this beautiful city with its cobblestone streets, 1100 year old castle, historic centre and varied architecture. It is the 6th most visited city in Europe. Something that is unique to Prague is its marionette shops. These loutky (puppet) shops are part of the Chech culture. The puppets are handcarved out of lime wood or linden by artists called authors. The puppet faces are oddly familiar and the jointed bodies are dressed in sartorial delights. Some puppets are made from plaster. Ami is a small company with a couple loutky shops in Prague. Next time you are in Prague, go to a folk or art puppetry company to experience this centuries-old tradition. Chech puppetry is considered the best in the world.

Lush Designs - London

This cute shop is located at 6a Greenwich Market, London SE10 9HZ. Garnished with lampshades, tea towels, pillow cases and other housewares, in a circus of modern colors and quirky prints...many hand-crafted in house at the Lush Designs Studio at Cockpit Arts in Deptford, which is open to the public a couple times of year. Marie Rodgers & Maria Livings own this wonderfully fun London business. They studied painting and printmaking at Maidstone Art College and evolved their business while working in the theatre and community arts after moving to South East London. Not only are they creative, but they are very nice and provided Cute Shops blog with these luscious, perky pics.

Le Boudoir et sa Philosophie

Photo Credit Dominique Bergeron

Bonjour! Cutes Shops Blog was thrilled to find Carla Vizzi's shop in the Marias area of Paris. She says her shop is a place to rediscover the Art of Living in the 18th-century around the daily activities of the Boudoir. Carla works with craftsmen who recreate 18th century art and she also sells both antiques and newly created classical elements that may have been found in Marie Antoinette's boudoir. Commission portraits of your favorite dog, in an 18th century spirit, are but one of the many possibilities of artwork she can also create for you. So, lovers of baroque, head for the Marias and step into a exploration of intimate Parisian life at Le Boudoir et sa Philosophie.

Emery e Cie - Brussels, Paris, Antwerp

Handcrafted basin and tap

Handblocked textiles

Hand-forged iron furnitiure

Handcrafted ceramics

Handcrafted ceramic mushroom poufs

Lovely vitrine

Shop in Paris

Fabulous paints crafted by a small family business

Handcrafted rugs

Handcrafted Teapots

Handcrafted iron coat rack

Fabulous handcrafted iron chairs

Handcrafted ceramic basin and tap

Handcrafted tiles

Shop in Brussels

It is no secret that I am smitten with Belgium and all its cute shops. Here is a shop with locations in Brussels, Paris and Antwerp. Each one has its own energy and ambiance. Emery e Cie is at the very heart of my spirit. I love bold colors nabbed from nature and forced to get along. I appreciate the elemental feeling of a single piece ...an item individually crafted by someone with skill and passion, especially of a time honored and lost art. And, I respect a shop when it has a reason for existing beyond commerce. Emery e Cie is my dream cute shop because it captures these qualities. Some day, I want to redo some rooms with Emery e Cie paints, tiles, bathroom taps and basins. For my posts, I don't usually show more than 3 or 4 pics, but I just couldn't decide...besides, they have 3 cute shops to showcase. Who is behind these lyrical shops? Agnes Emery, a designer and architect. She is one amazing woman!