The unbelieveable come-back

More than two months ago, the Claude-sans-cœur blog had been officially put on hold.

Julius and the Intern had lost their motivaion and desire to continue managing it.

Each went their respective way, away from Claude-sans-cœur, to concentrate on other things.

Julius spent a lot of time in the cabin with his good friend Jeffrey – a necessary return to true plush life, one with glow-in-the-dark stars glued to the ceiling and chocolate milk.

The Intern was photographing, wrinting, drawing, cutting, sewing, pedaling, grumbling, reading, listening, debating, coding. Hesitating to leave Berlin to return to her motherland or to venture further, to live some American dream, she in the end surrendered to her love of Beartown, with it’s dilapidated sidewalks, ironclad sunsets, and the taste of Club Mate.

And finally, after having directed their efforts elsewhere, after  preparing themselves for other projects, both  Julius and the Intern discovered new desire to write, take photos, and share a little whatever on the feed.

Step one, spruce up the blog, streamline and organise it.

Step two, share really anything at all, from the smallest of trifles to the most happening of happenings here at the studio.

Just as before, a blog with neither goal nor pretension, but one which  makes Julius laugh.

Spring has come again, and with it the insatiable urge to create, to look around, to change, and to relate a million things.

On the Claude-sans-cœur blog from this point forth, there will be: Doudou  philosophy, travel accounts, Julius’ fashion chronicles, good eats, whatever Chaussette is tinkering around with, and lot of Berlin.

Now, the english version on Claude-sans-coeur is easier to access: both french and english are on one same blog!
This one here has come to and end, now it all happens here!

The art of the Intern - part II

Just a little word, no biggie, to tell you that our Intern put her photography website online. 

It's a first draft, there are some improvements to bring, but it's here:

(click!)

Have a look and share it!

Still alive

Yes, it's hard to believe, yet it's true: Claude-sans-coeur is still here.

Yes, it's also true: for some months now, this blog has been abandoned. Julius and the Intern, still in Berlin, may have lost a bit of the motivation it takes to keep it updated. They are busy with other things, they have their mind somewhere else.

 Meanwhile, Chaussette is still in the States for an indefinite length of time, because of visa problems, but that is another story...
Still, without our favourite translator, it is even harder to be motivated.

However, Berlin is slowly getting out of its winter numbness, sun is coming back and this is enough to make Julius and the Intern happy.
They even dusted off their Etsy shop, with still some Claudes to adopt, and even, now, little blankets! Because here at Claude-sans-coeur, we like things that are soft and comfy.

You can see that here:

 ETSY shop

So here it goes, we will probably write for the blog again, but not right now...
Meanwhile, if you miss us too much, you can still follow us on Pinterest (from time to time), Instagram (sometimes) and Facebook (occasionally) !

After

It’s been a while… a long while.

Almost two months, actually.

The last time something had been posted, it was from the United States.

And after that, Julius and the Intern went back to Berlin. They got back to work hardcore, and back into the Berlin swing of things. Passing the time at full pace, they hadn’t even a moment to think about what should be on the blog.

They went to France. There was Christmas. There was the New Year.

There was Charlie.

And so, it wasn’t a question of time, but rather of willing to write anything.

And then Chaussette came back.

And so did Nono-Pimlico, our cat who had stayed in Troyes, but who now lives here with us. 

The team is all together again.

Little by little, the Claudes are getting it back together, themselves.

New ones will soon arrive at the studio. We’re probably going to dust this blog off a bit.

The Intern wants to get back to drawing and to yoga.

Julius wants to grow his hair out.

We’ll see.

Until then, the Claude-sans-cœur team is very happy to find you here again, and wishes you all a very good New Year…

So it’s almost been two weeks since Julius and the Intern returned from the States, with a heavy heart (and a full stomach - full of doughnuts).

During our voyage, there was an article written about each city that we visited. All but one: Bridgeport.

Perhaps because, more than a “visited” city, Bridgeport - just an hour from New York - was a city seeming “squatted, occupied, and one which we’ve appropriated”.

And also because, being the city of Chaussette, our translator, it’s where we made our headquarters, kept our bags, emptied the fridge, and did our laundry. It’s where we net back to after a long excursions, between two flights, to find some sanctuary.

There we felt right at home while being in a completely new and unfamiliar place.

For breakfast, there were deer in the garden and bagels in the kitchen.

We ate only bagels.

There was, as in all of the suburbans cities we saw, a lot of old houses, and we took longs walks down each street to try to see them all.

We also took long walks along the sound. On the other side, if you looked hard, you could almost see New York.

 We were in Bridgeport before and after Halloween, and, more so than colours of autumn, we saw the colours of American comedy…

We explored the deserted beaches populated by dilapidated factories - a fairly strange landscape where the horseshoe crab carcasses fitted perfectly.

 We finally went to see the abandoned lighthouse, the one we had seen on our very first day, six weeks before, and which seemed to be so close when seen from the port.

Although, we rode for a while, walked along the embarkment, made our way over the rock jetty, and after a few hours, we were there.

It felt like being at the end of the world, though we were pretty close to the house 

It was a bit like most of the trip: it was at another far end of the world, and though we felt right at home…

Our visit to New York comprised severals trips: once, an entire Sunday; then three days of the following week; one night the weekend after; and a couple of days more just before leaving the States.

Even still, we were left feeling like we got but a glimpse of the city, and not so much the full view.

And actually, perhaps it’s just as well…

We saw blue skies over the Manhattan skyline…

…and over a little Frenchie.

We passed under the bridges on the Circle…

…and over the streets on the High Line.

We arrived at the main door - or rather one of the hundreds of Grand Central Terminal.

We discovered that in New York, even the squirrel population proves to be diverse…

…and ate egalitarian candies…

On our last day, we went to get lost in Brooklyn, even all the way south to Coney Island.

The deserted beach, the empty amusement park, glacial winds and seagulls… It was just what was needed to get caught up in the nostalgia of our imminent departure… 

We felt a little melancholic on this abandoned beach, looking at America just before taking off for good old Europe…

…but it was also a perfect conclusion to a long trip, which, over the course of six weeks, resembled this walk along Coney Island: lots of colour, a good deal of empty space, and above all else, seagulls.