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.
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.
