In one word vegetables
My kitchen table is mostly full of bowls of vegetables… as are my bench tops and cook top when they aren’t in use. I like to have most of my vegetables and fruits at room temperature so I arrange them in pottery bowls around the kitchen. It is easy to see what I have to work with and plus it really makes the kitchen come alive. Even though the kitchen is a practical space. I can’t help playing around and styling it up.
The pottery bowls you can see in the distance come from the market in Lourmarin, a village in the Luberon region of Provence. Hélène has a stall there most Fridays and has some of the most unusual bowls and plates I have seen. Her studio is in the nearby village of Cucuron… (if you have seen the movie A Good Year, with Russell Crowe… you will recognise it as the village where the outdoor cinema scene is filmed)… a very pretty place with a magnificent plane tree lined bassin in the middle. Hélène will make to order but if you are passing through Lourmarin on a Friday I am sure you will find something to please in the market. I would say that her pottery is not really Provencal in look but it has a wonderful, earthy quality and textured feel to it that seems to sit well here. The colours she chooses are neutrals… those taupes and putty shades we all love so much… and the shapes are irregular…hand formed… quite unique in their way.
How do you arrange your kitchens? Are you styling mad like me? xv
Provencal Diary
Hélène Paris,
Rue de la Chapelle des Filles,
84160 Cucuron
+33490771338
and for lunch
La Petite Maison de Cucuron
Place de l’Etang,
84160 Cucuron
+ 33 (0)4 90 68 21 99
images exclusively living4media
photography carla coulson – styling vicki archer
