Required Reading: The World of Atelier Vime Distilled in a Paris Apartment

Ten years ago, Anthony Watson and Benoît Rauzy bought an 18th-century town house on the Rhône River in the Provençal village of Vallabrègues. The discovery that their place figured in a once flourishing wicker industry now nearly extinct led the couple in a surprise direction. Without expertise or a business plan—Watson was formerly a stylist and Rauzy an energy-use consultant—the two launched Atelier Vime, devoted to making high-style wicker furnishings from Rhône reeds and to offering choice examples from the past.


Watson and Rauzy also went on to produce the loveliest settings for their creations: their newly shored-up Vallabrègues base served as the initial showcase for Atelier Vime—see Rattan Revival—and was so well-received that they acquired the 18th century house next door and turned it into France’s loveliest summer emporium. In recent years, they’ve also revived a Normandy farmhouse and Rauzy’s family compound in Brittany.


Their wickerwork and historic house renovations are celebrated in The World of Atelier Vime, a new book available in French and English editions. It includes the duo’s Paris quarters, which was Rauzy’s childhood home. He and Watson have masterfully preserved its many highlights while also adding their own imprint—and no shortage of wicker.


Photography by Anthony Watson and Yvan Moreau, as credited, all courtesy of Flammarion.
Above: Rauzy’s father, an art-loving dentist, moved into the top-floor duplex in Saint-Germain-des-Près in 1953 when it was a bohemian enclave—and Rauzy grew up with visiting artists staying and working in their attic. Atelier Vime Edition’s signature Medici Vase and Pedestal now stands in off the entry of the early 18th century building.


Vime’s original designs start as sketches by Raphaelle Hanley, who Rauzy and Watson recruited early on as their in-house creative director. “There were 15,000 basketmakers working in the 1950s [in France], while today there are only around 100,” writes Rauzy bemoaning the loss of skills and culture. “Our designs have shaken up an industry that is mainly focused on creating baskets for practical uses, and they often push craftspeople to the limits of their expertise.” Photograph by Anthony Watson.
Above: A pair of 1940s “Africanist” wicker and forged metal chairs flank a display of art, pottery, and an Audoux-Minnet table lamp from the 1950s—fanciful vintage rope lighting is another Atelier Vime specialty. Notes Rauzy:”Wicker, rattan, straw, and rope are materials that all the great designers of the 20th century—from Charlotte Perriand to Gio Ponti—used and celebrated.”


Like his father, Rauzy is a devoted art collector; he focuses on work from the 1910s to the 1930s, but also has contemporary favorites, including American artist Wayne Pate, whose geometric painting hangs in the lower left. Photograph by Yvan Moreau.
Above: A  row of adjoining rooms lead to the living area at the front of the apartment. The space showcases a changing collection of Atelier Vime favorites: here, a wicker daybed and sling chair attributed to Louis Sognot and a salvaged antique iron guardrail. “Antiques are like our mother tongue,” writes Rauzy, “they’re the language in which we can best choose our words and form our own sentences.” Photograph by Yvan Moreau.                       Above: The apartment’s pocket-size kitchen is cloaked in Farrow & Ball’s Duck Green and a matching Codimat carpet. An Atelier Vime Editions Leaf Sconce, €1,320, hangs about a vintage Audoux-Minnet breakfast table and Rope and Glass Lamp—the table was made for a tennis club on the French Riviera. “For thirty years or so, the brand was emblematic of a sun-kissed ways of life,” writes Rauzy.


Glimpsed in the background: one of the Kartell modular plastic storage pieces that Rauzy’s parents added in the 1960s. Photograph by Yvan Moreau.
Above: The backsplash tiles are Andrée Putman’s Alternance Noir & Blanc design from Bisazza. Photograph by Yvan Moreau.
Above: In an alcove off the sitting room, a Paul Frankl table holds a bust by Romanian sculptor Margaret Cossaceanu, who trained in Antoine Bourdelle’s nearby studio—see A Perfect Small Museum (and Lunch Spot) in Paris.


The hanging light is Atelier Vime Editions’ Gabriel Suspension, €1,680, painted black. Photograph by Anthony Watson.
Above: How to weave a room: the couple’s lounge is enclosed by Atelier Vime Editions Wicker and Wood Paneling and curtains of their Vallabrègues Fabric with a custom Wicker Pelmet. The displayed plates are from Watson’s collection of antique marbled ceramics from Provence. Photograph by Anthony Watson.
Above: A glimpse of the garret, originally designed as the servants’ quarters. The Louis Sognot rattan easy chair stands next to a tree stump that Rauzy reports was “probably from the construction of the building’s structural framework.”  The self-portrait over it is by Pierre Bompard. Photograph by Anthony Watson.
Above: A framed costume design by artist Pavel Tchelitchev elevates a mantel. Photograph by Anthony Watson.
Above: This way to the guest room. Photograph by Yvan Moreau.
Above: The World of Atelier Vime is by Watson and Rauzy in collaboration with Marie Godfrain. It’s available in the States from Rizzoli and many booksellers; $75.


We’ve been following Atelier Vime since Watson and Rauzy first hung their handmade shingle:



* Rattan Revival: New and Vintage Wicker from Provence

* Atelier Vime’s Just-Opened Emporium in a Restored 18th Century House 

* Pine Cones as Decor: Atelier Vime’s DIY Door Surround

* Atelier Vime in Brittany: A Childhood Home Lovingly Updated | bit.ly/3XLoEJb


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