Welcome to the T List, a newsletter from the editors of T Magazine. Each week, we’re sharing things we’re eating, wearing, listening to or coveting now. We hope you’ll join us for the ride. (Sign up here, if you haven’t already, and you can reach us at tlist@nytimes.com.)
Eat This
A New Place to Indulge One’s Sweet Tooth
By
In Paris, a city known for decadent patisseries and luxe chocolate shops, Plaq — a new bean-to-bar brand with a store in the Second Arrondissement — is a noteworthy addition. The founders, Sandra Mielenhausen and Nicolas Rozier-Chabert, both recently left their day jobs and apprenticed under Chloé Doutre-Roussel, a specialist in all things cacao; they now source high-quality cacao beans from Peru and Venezuela, and create nuanced flavor profiles using a minimal amount of ingredients (not unlike the French tradition of winemaking). Plaq’s open production and retail space disseminates a luscious aroma thanks to not only its chocolate bars but also the rich cookies, cakes and tarts made throughout the day by the company’s pastry chef, Céline Lecoeur, formerly of Ottolenghi and Rose Bakery in London. But for me, the bars (or plaques) remain the draw. The Maya Mountain, striking for its hints of pineapple and vanilla, has been such a crowd-pleaser that it was sold out for weeks, while the Chuao, named for a rare Venezuelan bean, melted on my tongue before finishing with a delightful zing. plaqchocolat.fr.
Smell This
Perfumes Inspired by Radical Femininity
By
The artist Anicka Yi is already known for working with scent, but her latest project, Biography, is a trio of actual perfumes, each inspired by women who lived (or live) outside the bounds of traditional notions of femininity. Shigenobu Twilight, for instance, is a meditation on Fusako Shigenobu, the founder of the Japanese Red Army, with notes of cedar, shiso leaf and yuzu fruit. Yuzu was also present in the mezcal cocktail created by the mixologist Arley Marks and served at a recent dinner held to celebrate the perfume launch at New York’s Gladstone Gallery. Meanwhile, the chef Angela Dimayuga prepared chestnut and shallot soup, charred squash with mochi and ant-covered chevre logs — the latter a nod to the perfume bottles, in which ants, flies and ladybugs are suspended in plastic. “I wanted the night to be a total sensorial extravaganza,” said Yi, who formulated the scents with the perfumer Barnabé Fillion, finding the process to be a natural extension of her practice. “You start with conversations about ideas — agency, longing, exile — and then you punctuate those ideas with smells.” $250, doverstreetmarket.com.
In need of some advice? For T’s new Culture Therapist column, we solve your problems using art. Email us at advice@nytimes.com.
Wear This
A Parisian Designer’s Debut Women’s Collection
By
Known for his easy knits and casual suiting, Alexandre Mattiussi launched his Parisian men’s wear brand AMI in 2011. For fall 2019, the designer has made his first foray into women’s wear with a collection inspired by the Parisian bourgeoisie of decades past (think Catherine Deneuve in the 1967 film “Belle de Jour”). The 50-plus-piece range includes a checked wool blazer with subtle shoulder pads that could easily be worn with any pair of jeans, a pair of work appropriate tapered wool-twill trousers with neat creases down the front and a forest green double-breasted coat that’s surprisingly wearable given its striking color. There’s also a Breton sweater — is a French fashion designer really a French fashion designer if he doesn’t sell one? — with a ribbed crew neck and buttons at the shoulder. From $89, amiparis.com.
See This
Ceramics by a Potter Who Doesn’t Believe in Shortcuts
By
Steve Harrison is quite possibly the sole ceramist who molds his pieces 240 miles away from where he fires them. Once the mugs and teapots have taken their shape at his studio in Enfield, England, he drives them to his cottage in Wales, where they go in the kiln and receive a precise dusting of salt. (Harrison is known for the speckled glaze that only salt-firing can produce.) This road trip has become part of Harrison’s process — which means visitors to his Enfield studio only get the first half of the story. Beginning tomorrow, though, Londoners can see the rest: The East End interdisciplinary art space Blue Mountain School will exhibit 40 of Harrison’s favorite pots and cups from the past two decades alongside a replica of his kiln and a video showing the real one in action. Before now, these works sat in a box labeled “Fantastic,” which Harrison had tucked away in the loft of his English home. “These are the ones that spoke to me when I opened the kiln over the years,” he said, “so I hid them.” “Steve Harrison, the Loft Pots: Firing, Selection and Contemplation,” will be on view from Nov. 28, 2019, through Jan. 25, 2020, at Blue Mountain School, London, 9 Chance Street, bluemountain.school.
From T’s Instagram
