Hyper-connected, ultra-supported, caught up in a frenetic pace of life: we dream of slowing down and taking back control of our everyday lives. After a fashion, food, and cosmetics: “Slow Living” conquers the home, accompanied by a return to mechanical gestures. Like wanting to take your time…
What if our rhythms of life demanded to decelerate? As Joël Figari, philosopher and essayist remind us: “Speed, in the sense of rapidity, has always been considered an advantage in society. The myth of Prometheus allows the smaller animals not to be devoured by the larger ones, thanks to their ability to run faster. In our lives where time is constantly in an emergency, slowness is therefore a way to regain the upper hand, to act instead of reacting, to take control to live better without feeling out of the game. sociologist Frédéric Lenoir: “Joy can only exist if there is a presence in the world, attention to people and things. There can be no deep joy in turmoil.”
A lifestyle that takes time
Proof of this desire to regain control over daily life, hardware stores and other drugstores – these hybrid places in which we once found everything necessary for the equipment of a household -, are once again on the rise everywhere in France. Like the Treasury, which opened in April 2014 in Paris, and is experiencing growing success crowned by the opening of a second address, or like Maison Empereur, the oldest hardware store in France located in Marseille since 1827. This old-fashioned store, which spreads over 1,300 m2 of kitchen utensils, household art or cutlery, has even become an essential address for tourists passing through the Marseille capital! After mocking the thankless job of maintaining the home, the French are therefore rediscovering the pleasure of pampering their interior without necessarily expecting an express result.
