On the eve of the long-awaited Grand Opening of Faust, we caught up with Tajer & Whelan, the Creative Directors of the space to discuss historical monuments and UK Bass…
Ten Days: So, what took you guys so long?!
John Whelan: Haha, good question –welcome to France I guess! It’s been a massive challenge working on such a prestigious monument. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site and so the rules and regulations concerning what you can and cannot do are extremely stringent – this necessarily made everything take much longer than usual, as validation was required for every detail.
Ten Days: We’ve been in and had a look, it’s fuckin’ classic! What were the inspirations behind the design?
John Whelan: Our philosophy is always the same – we’re interested in respecting the heritage of the venue in question. It was the same for Le Pompon, we wanted to restore its original features and only add coherent elements. This approach was re-applied here, so Beaux Arts decorative flourishes and industrial structures were key inspirations, along with Goethe’s ‘Faust’ providing the poetic licence!
Ten Days: Justement, how will Faust differ from Le Pompon?
Charaf Tajer: First of all, Faust is a restaurant, terrasse and club, and so we’re offering more than one experience this time. Le Pompon by contrast is a family affair and the nightlife articulation of our movement ‘PPP’ (Pompon, Pain O Chokolat, Pigalle). Faust is much bigger, and therefore cannot be as exclusive by definition. For this new venture, we want to give people a more diverse programme, but always with the same energy and enthusiasm that characterised our previous venues.
Ten Days in Paris: So will this affect the music selection?
Charaf Tajer: Of course. There’s still going to be a fair bit of Hip Hop but the programme will embrace more ‘clubby’ sounds like UK Bass and Electro, in a non-pretentious way bien sur. We want Faust to be a party place, where you can laugh and dance, not stand in a corner and nod your head.
Ten Days: And what’s going on with Le Pompon anyway, is it ever going to reopen?
Charaf Tajer: For sure! We’ve just been prioritising, that’s all. While we’ve been getting to grips with working on such a different scale, Le Pompon has been touring the world, doing pop ups in New York, Miami, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong to name but a few. We’ll be looking to open Le Pompon in Pigalle once we are happy with how Faust is working out.
Ten Days: And Jackets?
John Whelan: Same for Jackets. We’re still of the opinion that Paris lacks a stupid rock n’ roll dive bar, so we’ll be addressing that very serious issue in the not too distant future.
FAUST GRAND OPENING – This Saturday 20Th September
