Return of a Story


1986 The magic was called Thurn and Taxis
Johannes (1926-1990),
6x great-grandson of the old Postmasters
met the child who had grown up
with the VB stories
during Paris Fashion Week.

The "VB child" had a student job
helping in fashion shows.
Thurn and Taxis decided to show him
the old VB Postal Mansion
and he was surprised to hear
some completely different stories
about the exact same place.

The magic from the past was still there
sleeping in the old walls of the VB mansion.

After showing the VB mansion to the student
Thurn and Taxis saw a small empty next door Boutique.
This resulted in the keys of the shop
and the mission to find a new idea
in the world of the PTT
(Postes Telephones and Telegraphs)

When you just 20 and you have the chance
that someone gives you
the keys of a little Boutique in Paris
many adventures are waiting for you ...


The adventure started
as a Service Center for Sony Phones
soon noticed by a fascination man from Japan.
Akio Morita (1921-1999)
became the best marketing teacher you could imagine
adding a Japanese touch
to the French / Russian / German VB story.



The magic was also called Aimee de Heeren (1903-2006),
daughter of a poor school teacher from Brazil.
and much older than anybody beleived.
1921 Alexander Bell, the inventor of the phone,
had given her a lesson
"To stay young you need to have young friends".

1938 Aimée arrived in Paris
as a "fashionista"
Hung with diamonds
she was pushed from fittings to balls,
because every hostess needed her for her party
to prove that she could draw the lioness of the season
Nobody realised thet the "IT girl"
was in reality a secret service agent
on direct misiion for President Vargas.

The black and white images
show Cremerie de Paris,
Coco Chanel,
young Aimée
and her boyfriend Joe Kennedy Jr (1915-1944)
The colored picture shows the same Aimée,
half a century later,
with the editor of VB.com

Coco Chanel had left Aimée a little jewel,
once a present from Dmitri,
the oldest from the inner cercle of the Romanov children.


1993 The legendary Cremmerie de Paris was for sale
The revenues of the Sony Phones were there
but not enough to get a bank loan.
so Aimee decided to sell the little jewel
as if Coco Chanel,
that had already left this world two decades before,
had told her to continue the story ...


Cremerie de Paris reopened with Sony
soon turning into something completely new,
an avant-garde Internet cafe.

Americans that were already using the web
could not get online when travelling through Paris.
Used to the Minitel (a French Internet System)
Hotels took time to provide internet access.

This brought a multitude or Tech pioneers
to Cremerie de Paris / VB.
Times were difficult, as there were not enough clients
Electricity was cut over and over again
but we had the chance to run into people
you don't meet every day.
They are the American touch in the
VB story

One was on the first flight to the moon,
another one was the assistant of Jon Postel.
He told us to add .com to "VB"
long before "Two Letter domains" became valuable.

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011) offered us an iMac
as if he wanted Apple be present in the cafe.

Others were still very young,
They came with a backpack and nobody knew who they were,
maybe they did not know it themselves.
Today they return, not with a backpack
but with a Pop Up for a Brand
they have created in the meantime.