The magic of everyday objects at Pylones

It’s pronounced ‘pea-lone,’ after the pylons of the Eiffel Tower, and it’s a French brand that turns everyday things into magical objects.

First of all, it’s pronounced “pea-lone,” after the pylons of the Eiffel Tower, and it’s a French brand that turns everyday things — paper towel holders, spoons, nail files, staplers, umbrellas — into magical objects with the special ability to make you want to take them home and display them on your vanity, office table, or kitchen sink. Their shops are wonderlands of color and quirky items and all over the world they are the same. This is according to Amandine Laloi, Pylones export sales manager. I visit their Glorietta 5 store on the same day the brand is launching its back-to-school Happy Packs, bundles of objects both useful and cute for kids and wannabe kids (like myself).

“You see these colorful barrels?” she asks, pointing at the giant tin cans painted in different shades of Day-Glo holding the displays. “When we started with the company, the rubber and latex we used for the first products came in these barrels and soon we just had so many! So we decided to paint them and use them in our stores. We even have them in our office in France,” she says. She even has one at home — along with her collection of Pylones objects. “I have so many! My favorite is the nail file and the shopping bag.” The barrels are not for sale, of course. It’s one of the trademarks of a Pylones store and they came about by way of the same imaginative spirit that is behind every Pylones object.

Pylones was created in 1985 by a French couple, starting out with rubber bracelets for kids. The bracelets were sold at fashion stores all over Paris and they were instant hits, so the company created more rubber accessories. “Everything started with rubber,” says Amandine. “Then in 1993, the owners met a Chinese supplier doing fishing products — and that’s how the fish pens started. They were our first products with plastic. Afterwards, we started doing a bigger range with plastic, rubber, metal and so on.

The brand is currently working on 25 different designers, some of which have been with the brand for many years. Their office in Colombes, France is where everything is made. They even have a separate floor for glass blowing — the process responsible for creating the popular glass Pylones rings. The brand employs its own glass blowers from the last remaining glass-blowing school in France, according to Amandine.

“We have designers coming to us saying, ‘Oh, when I created this I thought of Pylones,’ so we also work with these designers. But it takes around two years from the time we start working on the products to the time we launch them. We like to have our own style — you can recognize it’s a Pylones,” she says.

Pylones products are rich with cultural references. Its owners, also being active buyers for the Museé de Louvre, have arranged for special passes (complete with a special entrance) to the museum for its Pylones employees.

This year, the growing company plans to open three more stores in Paris, another three outside Paris in France, their first branch in Vienna, one in Seoul, one in Capetwon, South Africa, and more branches in the Philippines.

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Pylones has branches at Power Plant Mall in Rockwell, Glorietta 5 and SM Aura. It is brought to the Philippines by H&F Retail Concepts, Inc. Like @PylonesPH on Facebook and Instagram for information.