Life is too short to surround ourselves with boring colors!

With a passion for color, linens, pottery, home décor and above all my home country, I have developed over the years the perfect combination of collections, from colorful typical Provence (South of France) table linens to handmade French ceramic “cigales” (cicadas) symbol of luck in the South of France, to French vintage and antique pottery (carefully curated for me by a seasoned French estate antique dealer from Marseille, in addition to my own regular “hunting” trips back to France!).

La vie est trop courte pour s’entourer de couleurs monotones!…  Life is too short to surround ourselves with boring colors!

La petite histoire…. The beginnings

I was born and raised in the North of France (Lille) and spent my summers in the South of France where the rest of my family lives.  After a very happy life in France, I am equally happy to call the United States my home for the past 28 years, mixing the best of both worlds, with a forever thick French accent (you can take a girl out of France but you can’t take France out of a girl!)…I spent the first part of my life in the US working in Corporate America but seized the opportunity to make my own decisions as a business owner in 2006 right after the birth of my third child…

Pourquoi faire simple quand on peut faire compliqué?…  Why do things easy when you can make them harder?

So off I went on my merry way with a French boutique on my hands along with three young children….After a lot of sweat and tears (and French yelling), it all came together nicely, as I am a firm believer that when you are passionate about what you do for a living, living and breathing your business, and creating meaningful connection with your customers, it makes any hardship more bearable (cliché, yes, but nevertheless true).

Bavarde comme une pie!…  Talkative like a magpie (plus social interaction is my fountain of youth!)

I quickly started venturing outside of my boutique to engage more fully with my customers and started exhibiting my linens in art shows and special events all over Arizona and the Southwest in general, which quickly became my favorite way to share my passion for French linens and France in general.  However, I also made sure to keep a brick-and-mortar presence (within the Scottsdale Marketplace), so that my customers can purchase, add on, or exchange my linens as well as check out my unique selection of French antique pottery and handmade cicadas.

Un je ne sais quoi…. The French “joie de vivre” is simple comme bonjour…. Easy peasy….

It is all about food, family, friends and fun. And where do such gatherings invariably happen? Naturally  around a well dressed table where we linger for hours at a time, enjoying tasty food and wine, and of course each other’s company. Experience the same joie de vivre with my cheerful French table linens, peppered with one or two pieces of timeless French antique pottery… and a lucky cigale on your wall to complete the look…. Send your invitations, put your quiche in the oven and the bubbly in the fridge…

Bref… Yada, yada, in short

Et voilà, le tour est joué! (it’s in the bag)

I have always been fascinated by handmade pottery, whether made by contemporary artisans/artists or antique/vintage. When my house could no longer accommodate ONE more piece of pottery (although it has now spilled into the garden!), I started hunting items to decorate my business. Although I primarily gather treasures from the South of France, I also get the opportunity to gather some wonderful items from my native region of the North of France, where pieces vary greatly from the South, due to specific customs and cultures within the different regions of France. For example, I found a collection of metal “gaufriers” (“waffle makers”) in a small village of the North of France, which would be hard to find in the South of France because “waffles” are originated from Belgium, close to the North of France (“Flemish waffles”, “Liège waffles”, “Bruxelles waffles”). When customers started asking me about my antiques and pottery, I decided to bring them to you!