Etagère Café: an artistic interlude in this creative café in the 11th arrondissement, with handicraft activities

In the capital, many creative cafés have opened their doors, with manual workshops for all ages, whether you're an artist at heart or not. At Étagère Café, in the 11th arrondissement, you can just as easily come and relax with a simple drink while admiring other people's works of art, but it's still more fun to get started too!

Come and choose your activity from the 4 on offer. Alone or with friends, everyone can even choose a different creation and enjoy a meal together! The idea was born in the minds of Olivia and Guillaume, who like to try out all kinds of experiments and mediums, leaving the choice open to budding artists, all in a beautiful, lively and colorful space thanks to the creations on the shelves.

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Forget your hurried Parisian side and let the calm of this cosy place take precedence over your mind to spend one or two hours patiently working on your work, whether you choose to model an object in mineral resin, paint on a porcelain bowl, linocut, or make your own candle, all accompanied by a hot or cold drink between 2.5 and 5 euros, a pastry if you wish, and Anna, the owner's adorable little dog.

The price of your free activity depends on the format you choose, with different price brackets, bearing in mind that from €35/person, a drink is included. But you can also enjoy an activity from as little as €15! It's advisable to reserve your slot, especially at weekends. For our part, we chose to make a pretty candle, a useful way of brightening up your home.

Here, you choose a model from the many available, ranging from faces to rainbows, busts, flowers or other arty motifs. The choice is vast and allows you to add a touch of originality to your creation, rather than a candle in a simple glass.

I opt for the tulip, which is very cute, and we head off with other people present at the same time to the candle-making workbench, accompanied by Célia, who explains everything we need to know for this semi-autonomous activity. Wax sticks of every color are waiting for us, as are pigments, which allow us to create beautiful gradations in our candle, for the most patient.

For those who choose this option, you need to heat the sticks to 300 degrees in a beaker - which is why children are not the main target of the place - and use a cloth to protect your hand when pouring the wax into the chosen pattern, a gesture to be repeated in several layers if you want lots of colors.

With our flower, we only need two colors, so we head for a large container of wax to pour in our pigment of choice, violet. We pour it into our model, wait five minutes, then do the same for the green color. We then head for the fridge for 30 minutes to let the wax set, before unmolding it and finding our beautiful candle, ready to be used as decoration or to be lit the very next day!

In addition to these free creations, group workshops are held several times a month with workshop leaders, ranging from watercolor to jewelry, crochet bags and embroidery.

This is a perfect spot if you like peace and quiet and manual activities, but not the most suitable for young children or those who want to leave in less than an hour with their creations. On the other hand, if you're looking for a café with wi-fi to work in, this is the wrong place.

This test was conducted as part of a professional invitation. If your experience differs from ours, please let us know.