“Provence is too dry for growing willow now. “We’ve just planted our first crop of 2,000 willow plants on land belonging to Benoît’s family,” explains Watson. Like all good stories, the tale of Atelier Vime is about to gain a new, unexpected plotline, set in Brittany. We’ve designed a huge mirror in the shape of an eye, with wicker for eyelashes.” “We’re also collaborating with Diptyque on a pop-up shop. “We create our furniture and lamps with one of our best friends, the designer Raphaëlle Hanley - but we are the two dads of the project,” he laughs. “We sell our own wicker designs, as well as vintage pieces,” he explains. Rauzy is an environmental consultant by profession, fascinated by willow as a sustainable material, while Watson is a stylist. We’re simply bringing back the spirit of that tradition.” Whole families would move here, weave themselves little huts out of willow to live in, and make baskets for the season, before moving on. Everyone suddenly needed woven baskets to transport what they’d grown. Local fruit and vegetables could be carried long distances and still stay fresh. The wicker tradition first came to our village because of the arrival of the railway in the 19th century. Our motto is that nature is the last luxury: without flowers and bees, people might feel stupid with designer handbags. There’s a sense of conservation here, a sense of continuity and renewal. But you need time to get to know a house and its past, to learn where the light falls and where you like to sit. “It can be like having a wedding list, where you’re supposed to invent a whole life in an instant. “When you renovate a house it’s very easy to lose its atmosphere,” Rauzy explains. They love the idea that their beautiful house is part of a grand, historic narrative. Integrity in this story is very important to us and people who come here feel it.”Īs they talk, Watson and Rauzy return often to the power of story. “Atelier Vime is a re-invention of a Provençal way of life: the identity of the workshop is real. “Working with willow is not a new invention,” smiles Rauzy. But I was still concerned it would just seem like a country house for rich people.” They considered the idea of opening it up as a work space for artists, but then they uncovered the house’s 19th century past as a wicker workshop and decided to reopen that chapter. The piles of rubble - tonnes of it - were taller than we are. “We renovated it ourselves, digging up layers of concrete from the floors to reveal the 18th century stone underneath. “When we bought the house five years ago, I was worried about having a country home which wouldn’t breathe and live,” explains Rauzy. But open the hefty front door and a playful, elegant joie de vivre erupts like an exquisite couture gown from a wardrobe: 18th century paintings, perfectly curated china, a mural of a fig tree by artist Wayne Pate, antique furniture, 20th century vintage pieces, beautifully pigmented walls, and lots and lots of wicker.Ītelier Vime was created by partners Benoît Rauzy and Anthony Watson to revive the property’s willow-weaving history. It must have been perfectly suited to the lawyer for whom it was built in 1730. The Provençal house which is home to Atelier Vime has a formal, reserved exterior.
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