08/08/2026
We first discovered ateliervime a few years ago with M A R I N M O N T A G U T . Returning to Vallabrègues this summer reminded us just how precious the work of Anthony Watson and Benoît Rauzy is.
Once deeply rooted in the culture of willow growing and basketry, Vallabrègues has seen much of this ancestral craft gradually disappear. Where France counted around 15,000 basket makers in the 1950s, only a fraction remain today, while the cultivation of willow itself has become increasingly rare.
Through Atelier Vime, Anthony and Benoît are helping to preserve an entire ecosystem of knowledge: the growing of willow, the hands of the basket makers, their techniques, their tools and gestures, while giving this centuries-old craft a place in the present.
At a time when so many traditional skills are disappearing, this feels essential to us. Preserving a savoir-faire also means preserving the people, landscapes and culture that made it possible.
This is exactly the kind of story we want to keep sharing here.
