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Shopper’s Diary: Landline in Paris Is French-American Shopkeeper Caroline Morrison’s Answer to Plastic-Free Living

January 18, 2023

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On a recent trip to France, I had two days to get reacquainted with Paris when Landline came to me at the top of a stylist friend’s tip sheet.”Like Maison Empereur in Marseilles but smaller,” she wrote. The comparison got my attention: Maison Empereur is France’s Oldest and Most Esteemed Hardware Store and Much More.

Located in a former pharmacy in the 11th arrondissement, the emporium is the brainchild of Caroline Morrison. An escapee from the high fashion world, Morrison previously worked as Marc Jacobs’s European sales manager and international sales director for Carolina Herrera NY. She also grew up in San Francisco with a French mother and half-French father, attended a bilingual school in the Bay Area, and graduated with a degree in international relations from Tufts before settling in Paris.

Now married to a writer and a mother of two, Morrison says Landline came from a desire to focus on “consuming better and less.” She stocks her general supply store with everything from kitchenwares and carpet beaters to wardrobe staples, all made of natural materials (no synthetics or plastic) and cherry-picked from French and European workshops. Come browse.

Photographs courtesy of Landline.

Above: The old marble storefront had been covered over and was damaged beyond recovery; Morrison had it entirely rebuilt in wood.
Above: The shelves are stocked with wooden toys, traditional French ceramics, guaranteed-for-life pans, and hard-to-find Italian kitchen gadgets. Photograph by Olivia Tran.
Above: Plastic-free cleaning tools and string market bags. Morrison says Landline’s online store is forthcoming in March. Photograph by Olivia Tran.
Above: Landline’s linen-cotton jackets are made in Burgundy by workwear brand Le Laboureur.
Above: The brooms, brushes, and and natural cleaning supplies department includes German natural fiber and goat hair brushes for dusting books. Landline’s enamelware is made in Eastern Europe. The one item Morrison imports from the US are Sweater Stones, pumice blocks she says are “amazing for removing the pills from wool; I tried but couldn’t find the equivalent here.” Photograph by Pierre Prospero.
Above: An assemblage of accessories for cozy indoor days: a Bindewerk handmade notebook, French carpet slippers, Italian wool socks, and Woodswoman (from a selection of vintage books that tie-in with the shop’s themes).

Under the existing tile in the store, Morrison and her team discovered the original herringbone hardwood floor—”my husband and I and some friends spent a month restoring and patching it as a labor of love.”

Above: La Manufacture de Digoin’s two-toned pottery has been made in Digoin since 1875: read about it in our post A Classic Loire Valley Pottery Revived. The white-glazed ceramics on the lower shelf are part of an exclusive Landline collection by Paris ceramic artist Katherine Oh. Photograph by Francois Goize.
Above: Knit washcloths and mittens of organic cotton by Liv Berg. A Dane based in Paris, Berg uses plant dyes and models her towels after the cleaning cloths her grandmothers and aunt used to make. Photograph by Pierre Prospero.
Above: Landline’s stationery supplies come from all over Europe. The brass-detailed Exacompta Bloc FAF refillable notepad is a shop best seller and has been made in France since 1928.
Above: Morrison and her family live blocks from Landline, which is surrounded by other indie shops and restaurants. Here, she’s wearing Landline favorite wardrobe basics: a Guernsey fisherman sweater, Accidente Con Flores Mallorcan sheep’s wool vest, and La Botte Gardiane boots. Photograph by Pierre Prospero.