Entrance to Crea Street
Delving deeper into the Paris graffiti world, in my latest podcast I interview Olivier Jacquet, graffiti artist, Graff It! magazine publisher, and owner of the street art store Crea Street. I was lucky to get the interview since I stumbled into his store on a random Saturday afternoon waiting for my ride at the Gentilly train station. Olivier was extremely friendly and gave great insight on where Paris graff writers get down, how they're cleverly evading the police, the different styles that come from various cities in France, and who's who in the Paris scene.
A few other interesting things to note:
- Olivier is a family man, best evidenced by the fact that his 5-foot-tall mother was working behind the counter with him and knew every product in the store. Sadly, she declined to be photographed.
- Olivier also mentioned (if memory serves) that the graffiti scene in Paris goes way back to at least 1980.
- The woman that came in and started interpreting for us purchased not spraypaint, but a can of wood furniture varnish. Crea Street really does serve ALL creative types.
- Olivier has been publishing Graff It! since 1994!
- Olivier seems to frequent New York City and is tight with legendary graff writers like Cope2 and TATS CRU.
- The track "Police" that bookends the podcast is by Supreme NTM, the same Saint-Denis rap group that Olivier mentions had a significant impact on the graffiti scene since both were also graff writers. Here's their video for "My People" which celebrates graffiti culture:
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