Provence & Brittany with Atelier Vime

When Benoît Rauzy and Anthony Watson learned that the 18th-century hôtel particulier they were meticulously restoring, in the Provencal village of Vallabrègues, had once been home to a family of basket weavers, Atelier Vîme was born. The pair set out to revive the artisanal craft, which had all but disappeared from the region—replanting beds of willow reeds that once grew along the riverbanks, hiring local makers, and designing a collection of furniture and decorative objects with fashion-industry veteran Raphaëlle Hanley. After Karl Lagerfeld acquired one of their most emblematic pieces, the Medici column vase, Atelier Vîme became the go-to wicker house for countless designers, including Pierre Yovanovich, Kelly Wearstler and Beata Heuman. Three years ago they opened a shop, Maison Vîme, in a historic wicker-making building on the banks of the Rhône, where they sell their pieces alongside some of their collected French antiques, ceramics and other found treasures. In the meantime, the duo had begun restoring Benoît’s family home in Finistère, on the extreme western coast of Brittany, whose climate is more conducive to the cultivation of wicker reeds and where they now grow their main supply of osier willow. Most recently, they acquired a maison de campagne in the forest of Normandy, which they are busy restoring into a retreat whose purpose they are coy about (a hotel, we hope!).

Their new book, The World of Atelier Vîme, a Renaissance of Wicker and Style (Flammarion), reveals the partners’ signature style in their homes across France—whose interiors have been restored by local craftsmen using regional materials and techniques. These provide a romantically textured backdrop for their curvy rattan and soulful rope designs, not to mention their extensive collections of ceramics, classical and modern paintings, and vintage textiles. We spoke with Anthony and Benoît about how each region inspires their creativity, and some of their favorite addresses in each place.

First, as we are a travel magazine…I see you were recently in Greece! Can you tell us a bit about your trip and any interesting discoveries?

Anthony: We were in Monemvasia, on the Peloponnese. It’s an island, or really a rock connected by a little bridge. We were invited by a childhood friend of Benoît’s who has been going to Monemvasia for 30 years, and I was shocked. I imagine Greece with all its little white houses, but in fact the Peloponnese is just the opposite—it’s colder, in a way, a landscape of old stone houses, which was really beautiful. I loved it.

Benoît: We were mainly there for the rest and the sea. We had quite a tough and busy year, and left after we closed the shop in early September. We went first to Empúries, on the Costa Brava in Spain, a place with Roman and Greek ruins and a beautiful hotel on the beach that we’ve been going to for years. It’s a place I used to visit when I was a child, and back then we used to reach it by boat. It was just a restaurant at the time, and now there’s also a hotel, Hostal Empúries. The first house was built in the early 20^th century for the archeologist who was working on the site nearby. There’s a little pine forest, the archeological ruins, and the hotel on the beach. It’s a fantastic place and only two and a half hours by train from the south of France.

Anthony: It’s a beautiful old house on a beach, the decoration is very minimalist, and the people who go there… it’s not fashionable, but it’s great.

Just to finish on Monemvasia, you used to get there from Athens by boat, but there’s no boat now—you need to go by car, which is four hours, or roughly seven hours by bus. There are a few tourists, but it’s a very Greek destination. You have a few restaurants and not so many shops. A perfect day for us was waking up on the terrace facing the sea, then we would go down to the creek and after we’d finish our morning swim, there’d be a guy just two minutes away making fresh orange juice for two euros.

Sounds incredible—we love the Peloponnese. Turning to the book, let’s start with Provence, which you’re most closely associated with. Anthony, you spent some of your early years in the region.

Anthony: I’m Provençal on my mom’s side, though that side is really from Casablanca. Our family used to travel a lot, and I spent two years when I was young in France, then in Africa, then the UK, and eventually my parents bought a house in Provence, in the Gard region. Growing up, we were always renovating this house, a very old chateau on the top of a village near Uzès, so it’s in my blood.

Can you describe Vallebrègues and the setting for your home here, the Hôtel Drujon? How would you characterize this part of Provence?

Benoît: The first point that characterizes Vallabrègues is that it used to be an island on a river. It was not so easy to reach when it flooded, as it often did. So the people are used to living kind of closed off among themselves, and they have the reputation for not being very open to strangers. There are just a few families that are considered real Vallabreguin, and it’s not an open club. You have to have to have many generations of proven Vallabreguins to be considered one of them. I never tried to pretend, but it’s something that is quite special.

The second is that they are “free riders,” by which I mean they are used to living apart from the trends—economic trends, cultural trends, etc. It makes the village very special in a way. When we arrived 20 years ago, it was impossible not to feel it, because the village population was largely elderly people trying to show that their tradition was still alive, though it was obvious that it was not because they had only one basket maker still alive and still present in the village… So the atmosphere of the village is quite special, but it has changed a bit in the last few years. New shops are coming. A hotel just opened two years ago, in the biggest house in Vallabrègues.

It’s amazing that there is a part of this region of Provence that isn’t overrun by tourists.

Benoît: It’s quite a challenge not to be touristic in this part of France, because St Rémy de Provence is 10 minutes by car, the Alpilles are also 10 minutes by car, Arles is very close by and Avignon, too.

Anthony: But people don’t know our village because, in fact, it’s a bit isolated as it’s surrounded by orchards. You have to want to come to Vallabrègues—you won’t just pass through; it’s a dead end. Initially we bought the Hotel Drujon, the largest property among three houses with three courtyards in the middle—in the late ‘60s, the out-buildings had been sold to other families and the workshop closed in ‘72. We eventually managed to buy the two little houses and to bring back the three in one. So this was a big job. And three years ago, we opened Maison Vîme, our summer shop, June to September, though we are thinking about keeping it open a bit longer.

Where do you encourage people who want to come visit Maison Vîme to stay? What are a few of your favorite things to do in the area?

We recommend staying at Maison Salix, a lovely boutique hotel in Vallabrègues, hosted in a beautiful 18^th-century mansion.

The Bar du Cours, owned by Severine Audibert, is the real center of village life—brasserie food with a Provençal twist. Also Bien Bon in Saint-Rémy de Provence, a delicious restaurant on a narrow street; the chef changes every summer. We also like La Playa in Les Saintes Marie de la Mer, a beach restaurant offering fresh grilled fish and Camargue black rice.

Visit the Galerie Anne Clergue in Arles, an inspiring photo gallery. And the Atelier Textile Anciens in Tarascon and Bernard Durand in L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, both antique and curiosity shops. There’s also a wonderful brocante every Saturday morning in Villeneuve les Avignon.

In terms of other favorite villages, Anthony loves Aiguèze, as he grew up nearby. We usually go swimming in the Ardèche river just beneath the village before dinner. Boulbon is also beautiful, the next village after Vallabrègues. A 14^th-century Saint Christopher statue surprisingly stands on the facade of a house. You can take a lovely walk on the Montagnette, passing by the windmill overlooking the village, to the Abbey Saint Michel de Frigolet.

I want to ask you about Brittany, where you have a home and you’re now growing your reeds. What is about Brittany and this particular area of Audierne/Finistère that speaks to you, that you are trying to capture in your designs?

Anthony: Benoît will tell you more, because it’s his childhood home. But I will just say that when you think about Provence, you think about Cocteau and Picasso, places like Vallauris… it’s culturally very rich with a lot around you. Brittany is not the same thing. The creators and designers there are more confidential [from the the Ar Seiz Breur movement, an avant-garde collective that was active in Brittany in the 1920s and 1930s, to modern ceramics by Odetta, named after the Odet River, which flows through Quimper]—although the Breton painters [such as Henri Rivière, Max Jacob, and Louis Marie Désiré Lucas] were very famous. But when we decorated the farm, the idea was to keep the original atmosphere created by Benoît’s parents and the artists who were his parents’ friends who used to pass through and paint and create in the house over a couple of months. The job was completely different from in Provence.

Benoît: One important distinction is that Provençal culture is arguably part of French culture. But this is not the case for the culture in Brittany. The French government tried to erase the culture there, and the government and the French Republic spent at least 30 years forbidding the young to speak the Breton language at school. If they tried to, they would hang clogs around their necks and things like that. In our part of Brittany, there’s a lot of local mythology: the legend of the Ville d’Ys, a city that was swallowed by the ocean; the legend of King Gradlon and his son, Nominoë [the 9^th-century duke who was known for asserting Brittany’s independence from France]. If you look at the motifs of the Ar Seiz Breur movement, which coincided with Art Deco, you will find a lot of Breton mythology—all these themes that were very present when I was a child, because they were part of the local imagination and mindset. It’s very specific to Brittany, but it’s really not part of French culture.

Anthony: When we started to renovate the house and to plant the wicker there, we envisioned a kind of “Vîme Atlantique” collection. For instance, the rope designs, which are inspired by boating and fishing. We have a Seiz Breur print by René Creston depicting Gradlon. The objects and designs that are present in the house in Brittany really fit, and it is completely different from the one in the south. We will continue to work in that direction in Normandy.

Audierne and Finistère are quite far west, a bit off of Brittany’s usual tourism trail. Can you recommend a few local favorites, a way of visiting the area, that retain this Breton flavor that Benoît was speaking about? And can one visit the wicker farm?

In Combrit, Les Trois Rochers is the place for dinner, for their incredible ravioles de langoustines. It’s located in the Art Déco Villa Tri Men facing the ocean, which also offers hotel facilities. The villa has a beautiful collection of Breton paintings from the 1920s. 

The Villa Ker Magdalen in Benodet, built in 1926 by Albert Laprade, is a must see. There’s La Pluie d’Été, a bookshop in Pont-Croix, which provides light lunches and salads. Monsieur Papier in Plogoff is a bookshop, bar and design studio facing the ocean. L’Epoke in Pont Croix is the best crêperie in the area. There’s a lovely food market every Saturday morning in Audierne.

On the north coast, the Keriolet windmill stands in the forest of the Pointe du Miller, one of the most beautiful sites in Brittany. Further to the north, Douarnenez has many beaches. Our favorite is the Plage des Dames, facing Tristan Island. Also in Douarnenez, Alain Le Berre at Plage du Ris is an antiques shop that specializes in folk art, Breton costumes, painting and fabrics. 

Unfortunately, the wicker farm is private and not open to the public.

What inspired your decision to acquire this latest property in Normandy, and how will that be different? Can you give us a preview of what you’re working on?

Anthony – We found it by pure chance. It was one of those things where the place chose us.

Benoît – As you know from the book, our brand is really connected with nature, and this house in Normandy is completely immersed, surrounded by nature. In Brittany, it’s connected to the sea, but here you have deer, birds, all the wildlife you could expect to see in completely natural surroundings.

Anthony – Actually, the house was built for this purpose in the mid-18th century. You had nobles and bourgeois living in the city, in Caen and Bayeux, who wanted to build these kinds of houses for weekends, for family and friends, to experience nature. It was called a “Maison de Champs,” house of the field, typical of this western area.

Benoît – It’s like a dream for Rousseau and Buffon [an 18^th-century French naturalist]. So that’s very important for us. And it’s also a place where we can create things that are suitable for the countryside—it’s not a country house in the sense that It’s not a rustic cottage. Some of the rooms could, in a way, be in Paris, but it’s a place where the main point is light and nature. There’s a lot of hiking, rock climbing. It’s really not showy.

What will you be doing there?

Benoît: We will continue to do wicker there, maybe not grow the wicker, although we do have water. But we are working on some other projects, not necessarily connected with wicker, but with lifestyles. We are interested in hiking and in this new population that is very connected with nature. And we noticed that there are not so many places that host them. We have a little house that used to be the garden house and the boulangerie, or bakery, of the of the chateau, and we will start to renovate it, because we will need a place to live during the bigger work. Maybe we could organize something for the hikers there, like a place to stay.

Now that you have these four places, how do you divide your time?

Anthony – Well, Paris is family; we have a pied a terre there, so that doesn’t need a lot of care, nor does Brittany. So we’re focused now on the south and on Normandy, with little pop ups in Brittany and in Paris.

Benoît – Normandy will be a long process. There’s a lot of things to be done. It will also depend on the season, because some of the work can be done only during winter or summer—even for gardening, we have to wait til the spring. And moreover, we cannot replace a fireplace until we’ve found the right one. We have a wooden floor to find, which isn’t easy. So we will go step by step, and whenever we will find it, we’ll find it. But actually, we just found a fireplace this weekend.

And home is where you put your hat.

Anthony – Voilà.