Hediard tout en Rouge

The Metro lines 1, 12, 14 all stop at Madeleine. When you reach ground level you can go to Fauchon, Ladurée or Hediard. The design director of Elle Décoration and Elle à Table, Jérôme Dumoulin, said I must not miss Hediard in Paris. He mentioned Ladurée's exceptional green and planted a seed in my head.

I visited Fauchon at the Madeleine twice. I'd looked across at Hediard and procrastinated. Fauchon's pink had worn me down. This time I made a B-line for the RED at 21, Place de la Madeleine. Ferdinand Hediard first opened the "Comptoir des Epices et des Colonies" in 1880 selling exotic fruit and vegetables. Now they have a range of 6,000 products and shops on four continents.

Their brand colors engulf you the moment you enter this stylish épicerie. Rouge et noir.

 

Hediard's classic combination of red and black (Le Rouge et Le Noir) are the colors of Stendhal, of the clergy, of the chessboard, and of the Japanese.

Again Amandine Guisez-Gallienne's book, COLORFUL WORLD is useful when I'm looking for the range of a color - cool/warm, pale/intense, dark/ light. It reminds me of the vast variety within 1 color. And how the rest of the world uses color in meaningful ways.

The Hediard red is almost a true RED, but it leans towards it's warm neighbor orange on the color wheel.
Not everything at Hediard comes in red and black packages...

Greens anyone?