Inside Paris’s Saint-Ouen Flea Market: A Curated Design Showroom by Cléophée Poli
A curatorial showroom within Paris’s Saint-Ouen flea market where collectible design, vintage furniture & art come together.
For anyone passionate about interiors, Paris’s legendary Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen remains one of the world’s most exciting destinations for collectible design. Just north of the city center, this vast network of antique markets has long attracted collectors, designers and art lovers searching for rare pieces with character and provenance.
Within its most prestigious enclave, the Paul Bert Serpette market, French designer Cléophée Poli has created a quietly remarkable project: a curatorial showroom that functions simultaneously as workspace, gallery and evolving design installation. The result is an interior that captures the spirit of the flea market itself, layered, eclectic and endlessly inspiring.
Photography, Cleophee Poli, Curatorial Showroom, Paul Bert Serpette, Paris. © Alexandre Tabaste.
A Living Interior
The space was conceived for a company specialising in the transportation of fine art, a profession that naturally sits at the intersection of logistics, connoisseurship and cultural preservation.
Rather than designing a conventional office, Poli approached the project as a living gallery. Sculptural furniture, collectible objects and artworks shape the daily environment, sitting alongside bespoke pieces created by her studio, Cléo Interior Design. The interior feels both curated and deeply personal, reflecting the surrounding market’s rich design ecosystem.
Photography, Paris Cléo Interior, © Alexandre Tabaste.
Where Collectible Design Meets Daily Life
Among the standout elements are collectible design pieces including a Jean-Claude Dresse coffee table, a sculptural reception desk by Altin Studio and a Jean-Michel Basquiat lithography. Loans from merchants including Maison Cédric, Julien Spitzer, Galerie Phare are also on display.
Poli also introduced custom features, including a lacquered sofa beneath a mezzanine, a distinctive rug and a bespoke kitchen table, grounding the space while allowing surrounding objects to shift and evolve over time. The result dissolves traditional boundaries between workspace and gallery, creating an interior where design, commerce and everyday activity coexist naturally.
Photography, Paris Cléo Interior, © Alexandre Tabaste.
A Destination for Design Lovers
The showroom sits at the heart of the Paul Bert Serpette market, widely considered the most prestigious section of Saint-Ouen’s sprawling flea markets.
For visiting collectors and interior enthusiasts, the surrounding alleys reveal an extraordinary mix of mid-century furniture, Art Deco lighting, vintage textiles, contemporary collectible design and museum-worthy artworks. Dealers such as Maison Cédric, Julien Spitzer and Galerie Phare are among the specialists who contribute to the market’s global reputation. A morning exploring Saint-Ouen often feels less like shopping and more like wandering through a living archive of design history.
Photography, Paris Cléo Interior, © Alexandre Tabaste.
If you’re planning a 5-star weekend in Paris, enjoy our short Fluxx guide weaving together immersive hotel stays including Le Grand Mazarin and Hôtel Madame Rêve. Visit cutting-edge art at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, chill in Paris’s top listening bars and enjoy insider taste recommendations from Parisienne-based fashion designer, Delia Wade.
An Interior That Evolves
What makes Poli’s showroom particularly compelling is its refusal to remain static. As objects are bought and sold throughout the surrounding market, new pieces move into the space, subtly reshaping the interior. In this way the showroom reflects the rhythm of the flea market itself, dynamic, layered and constantly evolving.
For designers and collectors alike, it offers a simple reminder: the most interesting interiors are rarely finished. Instead, they develop slowly over time, shaped by curiosity, discovery and the thrill of finding the unexpected.
Photography, Cleophee Poli, Curatorial Showroom, Paul Bert Serpette, Paris. © Alexandre Tabaste.
