Merging do-it-yourself purpose with communal creativity, Sweat Shop is a recently-opened venue intent on helping you realize your crafty endeavors. The café couture, located in the 10th arrondissement, features 10 work stations equipped with SINGER sewing machines. People are encouraged to drop by and work on sewing and knitting projects. For those needing more instructive assistance, there are 5 courses offered a week to help people perfect their couturier skillz (including workshops specifically for kids and special customizing sessions). Guest designers and collaborators will pop by keep the creativity rolling, and neighboring Bob’s Juice Bar provides tasty treats to keep your concentration sharp as you whip up your personal Project Runway fantasies.
LF: When did you first start sewing? Was it something you learned through your family, or did you start out on your own?
Sissi Holleis: As a little girl I started sewing and crocheting for my Barbies and other favorite teddies.
LF: How did you select the space on rue Lucien Sampaix? Is this locale off the canal specially selected?
SH: It was Martena [Duss, the co-owner of Sweat Shop] who fell in love with this shop next to [Bob’s] Juice Bar; she lives just around the corner it seemed like the place to be.
LF: What was your background before opening Sweat Shop?
SH: I’ve been a “young designer” for over 12 years. The label of my brands were SISSI HOLLEIS and sissishirt. I had a shop in the Oberkampf quarter, exporting mostly to Asian countries like Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong.
LF: Sweat Shop is a cheeky name for such a lovely place as your store. It brings up a loaded concept: the tension between creation, production, and commerce. What is your philosophy about these elements of design?
SH: For native English-speaking people, yes, there is that connotation. For the French, they even don’t know the meaning, they think more of ‘sweat shirts’. Anyway, we don’t joke about the reality of sweatshops in China, no way. It’s more like a “jeux de mots”, and it’s defending our philosophy: less buying-more trying, overcoming the impulse to “acheter-porter-jeter” (buy-wear-get rid), and instead “recycler sa garderobe”…
LF: The design of the shop is fantastic; what did you draw on for inspiration to create this atmosphere?
SH: We love Berlin style, very cozy, retro-vintage ambiance, like being in somebody’s living room. We had the great help of a Belgian team, they brought furniture in from Belgium and produced special pieces for Sweat Shop.
LF: Do you feel Paris, once renowned as the epicenter of couture, has completely lost this reverence for craftsmanship? Are you trying to bring attention to this old tradition, or are you trying to liberate it from an elite art form and democratize it?
SH: Of course it’s still a very important center of couture, but time and lifestyle change. New places and atmospheres of couture here can be created — we try to give people the chance to get back into couture, like our great grandmothers did, passing on their gift from generation to generation. Sweat Shop is the place to find inspiration, creativity, and, why not, relaxation.
LF: Do you have any personal “sewing specialties”?
SH: I like free-style hand sewing and “wild” machine forward-backwards sewing.
LF: You’ve already organized some collaborations/collaborators. Who would you like to collaborate with in the future? In real life, and in a fantasy world?
SH: We’d like to collaborate with Bernard Willhelm soon, young new designers who work we admire, and… Alber Elbaz is the fantasy.
SWEAT SHOP
13, rue Lucien Sampaix, 75010 Paris
Metro Jaques Bonsergent
tel: 09 52 85 47 41
Open Tuesday-Friday: 1pm-9pm, Saturday-Sunday: 1pm-7pm, closed on Mondays.
Sewing machine rate: 6 euros
Workshops: 20–80 euros
Special offer coffee/cake: 5 euros
-10% reduction for students
