It's no wonder that this community of specialized craftspeople endured—even outlasting the monarchy—to make Paris a world capital of interior design and furnishings. The industrial revolution of the 18th and19th centuries ushered in machines capable of manufacturing passementerie on a large scale. Today, however, a handful of artisan establishments across the city, and north into the Ile-de-France and Picardy regions, carry on the tradition of making passementerie, in whole or in part, by hand. A variety of specialized looms, hooks, and other small hand tools help create a long list of stitches and cording, each with its own complex terminology.

Some of today's best artisan passementiers are clustered in the Bastille district of southeastern Paris. In the Middle Ages, this area of town was home to the furniture trade guilds: cabinet-makers, joiners, metalworkers, and specialists in inlay and marquetry. Today, though undergoing gentrification, the area retains some of the flavor of an old-fashioned working-class district, with hole-in-the-wall workshops that transport visitors light years away from the posh avenues of the rest of the Right Bank. One of the best places here to find authentic Parisian passementerie is Houlès, which has built a reputation in the interior design trade over four generations. Another impressive display in the Bastille quarter is at Les Passementeries de L'Ile de France, which exhibits representative samples of its curtain cord tie-backs, window dressings, pompoms, fringe, and other details—many woven on historical looms. More centrally located in the 1st arrondissement, Declercq Passementiers runs a small museum devoted to the art of passementerie, along with a shop displaying some of the fanciest trimmings in France. You can also commission this family business to craft a custom-made design. Intrepid treasure-hunters might locate special antique examples of Parisian passementerie at the city's two largest weekend antiques markets, Les Marchés aux Puces de Saint-Ouen, on the northern outskirts of Paris; and Les Marchés aux Puces de la Porte de Vanves, on the city's southern edge. If you opt for an antique, be sure to check the condition carefully, since textiles can be fragile if not conserved in a controlled interior environment.

Whether you buy an antique piece or a tassel hot off the loom, you may be surprised at the high prices of these little wonders, a measure of their uniqueness and the labor involved in crafting them. On my last trip to Paris, I spent just over a hundred euro for three yards of tassel trim from an artisan passementier. Still, passementerie makes a fantastic choice for a typically Parisian souvenir that is easily portable and won't break in your suitcase. When you get home, attach it to a doorknob, a chair, or a chandelier, an easy trick for bringing a distinctly French accent to your home, from the world's undisputed capital of embellishment. Indeed, the key to authentic Parisian style is all in the details.