La Mer de Pianos
A Story About The Oldest Piano Shop in Paris
When I saw this I had to share... for so many reasons. Growing up the piano played a really big part in our family. We had a banged up sorry old thing until we inherited my grandmother's very fine specimen. Us kids made the weekly trek to the piano teacher, hammering out chords and struggling with sheet music until we played something that sounded possibly like music. As time has passed I'm so very sorry to say that my piano skills have waned until they are nearly non-existent, but I've never forgotten the sensation. The calm that comes over you when you finally master something (especially that darned left hand!!) and the music flows freely. I can picture myself doing it - see the notes, feel the keys, hear the music. As my career evolves free time becomes more rare and the stress of daily life leaves me yearning for a little escape. To completely lose yourself in something is so rare these days and I would love nothing more than to be carried away on the tune of something soft and beautiful. Well, my teensy little house doesn't really have room for a piano right now, but perhaps one day soon it will. This video, shot and edited by Tom Wrigglesworth & Mathieu Cuvelier, features the oldest piano shop in Paris. Owned by Marc Manceaux, the shop is a mess of parts but is magical too, playing a part in preserving the history of music. It tells the story of a man doing what he loves, un homme libre, regardless of society telling him he's of a dying breed. The second reason I had to share this video is because it reminded me in stunning clarity of a photo shoot we did this past fall with Don Taylor, a book binder here in Toronto (originally featured in Issue 6 - click here to view it). Walking into his studio workshop was like floating on a sea of paper. It was the shoot that almost didn't happen (more on that later) but ranks at the very top of my experiences creating stories for Pure Green. I will share more photos from that experience as part of our Best of 2011 series running on the blog this month. Until then, lose yourself in La Mer de Pianos.
Found via Three Potato Four
