Pamela Copeman » Design is Everywhere: Paris Metro

Design is Everywhere: Paris Metro

Oct 04 2011 · 2 comments · Inspiration, Travel ·0

“Beauty must appeal to the senses, must provide us with immediate enjoyment, must impress or insinuate itself into us without any effort on our part.”

~Claude Debussy, French composer

Bonjour mes amis! If you’ve hear that Paris is a romantic city, replete with beauty and inspiration, you’ve heard correctly! It seems everywhere you look and indeed, everywhere you go in Paris, it’s one breathtaking sight after another. Beautiful design details to delight all the senses surround you–even in the subway!

Do come take a peek at some of my favorite design moments from the Paris Metro…

My friend Debbie pointed out these chairs against the veritcal subway tiles at the Chatelet les Halles stop on our way to Montmartre. So striking!

At another Metro stop we walked through this tunnel with an amazing tree themed tile installation. I love how they've elevated the everyday to beautiful and interesting here!

A detail shot of the tree tile mosaic

Of course not all the good design in the Metro had to do with tile…

What a great, suit! Even the commuters in Paris are stylish!

Coming around the corner in one of the Metro stations, I heard music that reminded me of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. I followed the music…

and came upon this ensemble of string musicians!

The acoustics the subway halls offer are comparable to a concert hall according to my pianist son.

The music was beautiful!

Here there is no ticket price, just a donation of your choosing.

Back to the business at hand, how many times did I look down the tracks for my train?!

There's even artistry in this colorful, approaching double decker train

I did encounter several more magnificent tile mosaics in the Metro, including this more abstract work:

Just look at the detail!And yes, it’s signed!From a totally different genre, another tile installation at the Bastille Metro station:

These tiles were both handpainted and dimensional!

It's always piques my interest when artwork tells a story

I hope you’ve enjoyed these glimpses into the Paris Metro! The designer and artist in me can’t help but notice and want to share some of the beauty that we encountered as we explored Paris. As I love to say, design is everywhere, even underground, you just have to stop and take notice of it!