28 At the World’s Café

Au café du monde

Paris |

France

French

Behind the scenes

This text was born on a café terrace in Paris, one of those moments when you pause, observe, and let your mind wander. The title deliberately plays on a double meaning found in French: café refers both to the place where people meet and talk, and to the coffee itself, whose bitterness awakens the senses and accompanies reflection.

In the illustration, I wanted to capture that Parisian atmosphere, drawing a scene at the foot of an equestrian statue in the Tuileries Garden, with a view over Place de la Concorde, the perspective stretching toward Pont Alexandre III and the Eiffel Tower in the distance. A newspaper resting on the table, a cup still warm, and a gaze drifting beyond the passersby…

In that suspended moment, memories and cities blend together. As if, for a brief instant, the whole world could gather in the same café.

Echoes of the world

The text is written in French and draws on the musicality of rhyme. Some words echo each other through similar sounds – for example noirceur and douceur (“darkness” / “softness”), or délient and envahit (“untangle” / “invade”), whose endings create a subtle echo in French.

These sound patterns give the text a light, almost conversational rhythm, like a discussion unfolding over a cup of coffee. They also help connect very different places: Tangier, Bruges, Valparaíso, Shanghai, or Montreal. Cities appear, overlap, and fade away, much like memories resurfacing in the course of a conversation.

The language itself becomes a journey.