"Astier de Villatte"
Paris, France
Creators of home furnishings, ceramic tableware and objects, fragrances, and books, Yvan Pericoli and Benoit Astier de Villatte founded their company in 1996 with brothers and sisters from the Astier de Villatte family and friends from the Beaux-Arts school. They started the small company without any knowledge of tableware. He creates "the objects of his dreams. Or furniture inspired by the emmaus of recycle stores, flea markets in Vanves, bargains found in thrift shops, and various scraps collected on the street at night. With an even more playful twist on the sculptural techniques he learned at the Beaux Arts School of Fine Arts, he creates everyday objects and ceramic tableware that add color to interiors and dining tables. The result is innovative and dreamy. At the beginning, the collection was created in the home of Alexandre, Benoit, Matilda, and Jean-Baptiste, followed in 1996 by the basement studio on rue de Menil, which was already their home base. The adventurous activity continued to develop, with ideas flowing out of the artist's mind and sometimes clashing with his talents.
In September 1996, the company exhibited for the first time at Maison & Objet. The exhibition was an enthusiastic success, and orders poured in from all over the world. Astier de Villatte began to sell its products in a few sales outlets and ateliers that were very Parisian.
Gradually, the original team members left, leaving Yvan Péricoli and Benoit Astier de Villatte to run the company alone, building their reputation by word of mouth, without any help from advertising.
In 2000, they finally found their dream location on rue Saint-Honoré, close to the Palais Royal and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. At the same time, they left Rue de Domenil, where they could no longer cope with the ever-increasing volume of orders, and moved to Boulevard Masséna. Located in the heart of Paris, the huge manufacturing workshop is flooded with natural light. Leaving the center of Paris and its boutiques was not an option. Under the direction of furniture creator Alexandre, artisans in the atelier fulfill orders from buyers around the world. Then two new team members, close friends, stylist and designer Emilie Mazeau and webmaster William Simon, joined the team to complete the website, which reflects their unique style worldview.
In 2008, a humorous, half-joking in-store launch of a scented dishwashing detergent became a blockbuster product, opening the door to the magical world of fragrance. With the help of star perfumer Françoise Caron of Japanese fragrance manufacturer Takasago, team member Emily launched the first collection of eau de cologne, hand care products, and a parfum candle themed around a grand olfactory round-the-world journey. Over the years, the collection of perfume candles and eau de cologne continued to expand with the help of talented perfumers, including Nathalie Feychaud, Alexandra Monet, and Christophe Reynaud (author of the sparkling "Splash").
In 2015, we purchased the S.A.I.G printing workshop, with which we had a longstanding business relationship. The man at the helm of the printing house, Mr. Huang, is one of the last masters of letterpress printing today, and his skills are second to none. Located in the Paris suburb of Rye-les-Roses and equipped with a large letterpress and several Linotypes, the legendary "automatic typesetting machines," the printing house is one of the last workshops in the world capable of printing books by letterpress. With this acquisition, Benoit and Yvan set up a publishing house and published their first book, Ma Vie à Paris (My Life in Paris). After this unique guide to Paris, which sold like hotcakes, the second book was a collection of drawings by Lou Doillon. The third was a picture book of Balthus's drawings as a boy.
Over the years, numerous artists, friends of the Maison, have worked with Benoit and Yvan to create ceramics, stationery, and books. One such artist is John Derian, the New York-based king of decoupage. Setsuko Klosowska de Laura, an acclaimed Japanese artist who lives in the fabulous Grand Chalet in Rosinières. The talented Serena Caronne. Others are Dana Wise, Nathalie Lethe, Orelie Matigo, Josée Levy, Patch, Tse & Tse...
For Astier de Villatte, it is not just a collaboration, but a story of friendship and aesthetic affinity that leads to the creation of a unique world full of personality.
From 2018 onwards, Astier de Villatte will begin manufacturing lighting fixtures with the help of its American friend and lighting designer Mary Sinder. A new space has been created in the workshop on Boulevard Massena for the production and electrification of the "Pampille Chandelier".
