A destination for crafted, rare, and lifestyle books – Founder Kelly Croteau reveals that Maison Plage is more than just a bookstore, it’s a brand
Designing a space to escape and inspire: Maison Plage, Los Angeles
Maison Plage is a haven for rare, out of print and new books. With an online store as well as a physical boutique, Maison Plage offers a carefully curated selection of prints that relate to art, fashion, design, and photography.
The founder of Maison Plage, Kelly Croteau, has always been a lover of books and wanted to share that same passion with others. As a personal collector herself, Croteau has always appreciated the space that books can provide for inspiration and escapism.
Wanting to get off her phone and inspired by a European Grandeur on a trip to Paris, Kelly Croteau wanted to design a space that was more than just a bookstore. The founder explained that she «really wanted there to be a brand» and thus created Maison Plage, a brand name consisting of two French words that literally translate to «House Beach».
«I wanted to have this brand and Maison Plage is basically representing the European Grandeur and then the beach. Therefore, those two worlds really come together in a place where people can escape and get inspired».
Maison Plage since the foundation of the space in 2019
When Croteau first launched Maison Plage in 2019, the ‘haven’ for rare books was an online shop that sold prints from Croteau’s own collection and offered as well the possibility for Croteau to create a custom stack of books.
The founder explains that, to market herself in the beginning, she created «custom stacks for people that tend to look to books for inspiration or for certain projects they are working on. So, creatives».
The founder of Maison Plage now curates full custom libraries and works closely with interior designers to source books for their own projects. Moreover, Maison Plage started doing the occasional pop-up store which eventually led to being invited to have a store for a temporary art fair in Los Angeles that was only supposed to last a couple of weeks.
Croteau revealed that «it got extended because people really loved coming into the store and I was really able to bring it to life».
Maison Plage, Los Angeles: where books meet art
The physical store of Maison Plage is more than a simple bookstore, it’s an exhibition intended to immerse visitors into believing they are at the beach or walking around a street in Paris.
The installation is set-up with multiple sections with the first display being a bed meant to represent a Parisian area. Following the flow of the space, customers can then find a sand area, with a chandelier stuck in the sand, meant to showcase the beach.
On the other side of the boutique, customers can find an area with a coffee table full of stacked books where they can sit down and flip through pages of rare books, prints and even newer books.
«People have been gravitating towards that part of the store because it’s fun and because they don’t know what they’re going to find. I don’t want customers to feel like they have to leave quickly. It’s an area where they can sit and relax and get inspired. I want them to be able to stay and look through books for as long as they want», insists Croteau.
The next section holds most of the books sold on Maison Plage’s online store. These books are displayed on two tables in a curated way.
The final area consists of a wall where different clips are being projected. From snippets of the beach, or clips of beaches in films to scenes from various films set in Paris, the projection brings together the essence of what Maison Plage represents. «You really get the whole story; you know walking through the store».
Kelly Croteau and the art of collecting at Maison Plage
Kelly Croteau sources books from all over the world and collaborates with smaller publishers as well as bigger ones to create her range of curated books for her store and for the custom library curations she does for her clients.
Croteau sources in France or Switzerland, or with smaller publishers that have books from emerging artists or photographers.
Maison Plage also has accounts with larger publishers such as Rizzoli or Penguin Random House. «Their books are great as well and I want to be able to offer some that obviously speak to the brand and then I do library curation as well for clients. So I do need to have access to a lot of different types of books».
For rarer books, Kelly Croteau needs to be more resourceful. Whether it is working with dealers in New York and Paris or looking around vintage and antique shops or even sifting through private collections that are being sold, the founder of Maison Plage is always on the lookout for the rare coffee table book.
Maison Plage, Los Angeles – the collection of the bookstore
Maison Plage offers a selection of prints that have been chosen with deliberate intent to reflect the spirit of the space. The bookstore offers lifestyle books that speak to the brand Croteau has created.
Maison Plage holds printed editions of books about art, design, travel, fashion and photography, and general lifestyle books such as «the Riviera book by Bastien Lattanzio, or the photographer from Paris Romain Laprade. Their books just automatically belong in Maison Plage. They’re about travel. They’re about escape. And they have the beach».
The rebirth of the coffee table book after Covid-19 according to Croteau
With the rise of the digital age, whispers have floated around about the relevance of printed books and if they would survive. However, Kelly insisted that this was not her experience. Social media has, in her opinion, in fact encouraged the use of coffee table books.
In a post pandemic world, and with the help of social media like TikTok and Instagram, coffee table books have seen a bigger spotlight.
«There’s more exposure to what people are doing with their homes and décor, and I think that styling your coffee table and having books around has been almost reborn in a way. People are more interested in it. And I think the pandemic and people being at home helped that market in a way».
Croteau further shared that this meant that the demographic entering her store varied from people in their twenties who were starting to build their collection of books to older customers who already most likely held their own collections of books.
Maison Plage is then able to help guide and assist visitors as they build and curate the coffee tables as well as their libraries.
The founder further revealed that the three main things she looked for when searching for a coffee book table were: the cover – something that catches the eye and fits with the space – the content – a book that will keep revealing something new each time you flick through it – and considering the value of the book.
Moving forward at Maison Plage: the Trade program
Maison Plage also offers what they call a Trade program. The founder explained that the trade program is for «designers primarily to be able to continue to come back and use Maison Plage and for us to develop a relationship with the designers. They can work with me directly and I can source books for them personally when I go to a specific location for example».
Maison Plage has grown since it first launched in 2019. Moving from online to a physical store, it continues to expand its collection and collaborations. Kelly Croteau declared she intends to «keep developing the brand and create a booklet for Maison Plage that showcases a little bit of its history».
Sourcing and sustainability at Maison Plage, Los Angeles
One of the many perks of sourcing rare or out of print books from antique stores or private collections is that these books are being reused, encouraging customers to invest in timely print pieces that can hold value whilst approaching home decoration in a sustainable way.
Kelly Croteau
Kelly Croteau grew up primarily in California, where she currently resides. Before launching Maison Plage in 2019, Kelly worked in marketing but was always passionate about books and collecting them. She loves to travel the world to source rare books and takes her daughter with her on these trips to show her that women can run their own businesses and do what they love.
Maison Plage
Located in Los Angeles, California, Maison Plage has both an online store and a boutique installation that sells rare, out of print and new books relating to art, design, fashion, and photography. It was first launched in 2019 by founder and creative director Kelly Croteau.
Estelle Lesault
