A small stone room,
behind a bookshop,
in L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue.

L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is a town on water. The river splits into a dozen narrow channels that thread between old paper mills and stone houses, and every Sunday the streets fill with antique dealers from across Provence. It is, depending on who you ask, either the most beautiful town in France or a tourist trap. I think it's both.

I opened Maison Clouet because I'd been doing this informally for years — driving out to brocantes at five in the morning, buying things I loved, selling them to friends who'd come for dinner. At some point my apartment ran out of room. I rented a space behind a friend's bookshop, painted the walls cream, and put up a sign so small it's almost a joke. You have to want to find it.

What's in the shop

Ceramics, glass, textiles, lighting, the occasional small painting. Nothing newer than 1980, and nothing I wouldn't keep myself. The scent line is at the back, by the window — I pour candles there in the mornings before opening, which means the room smells different every day.

How to find us

From the Sunday market, walk two minutes east along the canal. Look for Librairie de la Sorgue — it's the bookshop with the green awning and the cat. Walk straight through, past the reading chair, out the back door, and we're across a small courtyard. The door is the terracotta one. There's a sign, but it's small.

— C.
founder · sourcer · candle pourer