How we source

We skip none of them, even for a simple piece.

1. We source through six channels, in France and five neighbouring countries.
2. Before buying, we check the piece on site or from photographs.
3. It then travels, insured, to our Paris workshop-warehouse.
4. We restore it without disguising it, so it keeps its patina.
5. It is photographed in the workshop, without retouching.
6. Its product page is proofread before it goes online.

• We work the specialist antique markets (the Puces de Saint-Ouen, regional trade fairs, twentieth-century design fairs), where good pieces go fast: you have to be there.
• We follow auctions in Paris and the regions, design sales and estates included. Well filtered, they remain one of the best channels for rare pieces.
• We buy from European dealers: in Italy for Cassina, Arflex, B&B Italia or Tecno, in the Netherlands and Belgium for modular systems and Eames-Vitra, in Germany for Thonet, Knoll Europe and the Werkstätten, and in the UK for Race and Robin Day.
• Private sellers, who reach us through the sell page, are the most interesting channel: their pieces have been lived with, with no dealer in between.
• Private sales and destocking (manufacturer end-of-line, retired architects' stock, collectors' holdings) open up through recommendation.
• Documented estates bring us interiors from 1960-1990 sold as lots, with traceable provenance and usually in good condition, as well as our vintage tableware: Gien, Sarreguemines, Vallauris, Iittala.

Behind these channels there is an address book (around twenty trusted dealers, restorers and collectors) built one deal at a time, at fair prices and paid promptly. Anyone who lets a doubtful authentication through is out.

No piece goes into stock until we have checked its markings, serial numbers, the consistency of materials and period, the joints and any earlier restoration. When buying remotely, we first ask for photographs of the markings.

Three criteria then decide the purchase.

• Provenance has to be traceable: first owner, estate or named previous seller. Vague provenance passes if the markings are clear, never if they are uncertain.
• The patina has to match the age. The leather on a 1968 Pierre Paulin should show fifty-five years of use; if it looks too new, it has probably been redone, and we need to confirm it.
• The piece has to matter in design terms. Without a designer or manufacturer, a chair is just an object; signed, it has a story. We buy piece by piece, not by the lot.

Sensitive pieces (old leather, marquetry, glass) travel in a wooden crate or reinforced cover with a specialist fine-furniture carrier. Sofas and USM ensembles go in a dedicated van, with soft straps and padding. Everything else goes with partner carriers used to signed furniture.

Every inbound transport is insured at declared value.

• Leather is cleaned and nourished and loose seams are secured, but we don't dye it: re-tinted sixty-year-old leather looks plasticky.
• Wood is cleaned and fed with beeswax, and fine scratches stay. We only repair damaged veneer if it spoils the whole piece; otherwise we note it on the product page.
• Metal and chrome are cleaned and lightly polished, never re-chromed. On USM, a damaged frame is repainted in its original RAL, since the manufacturer still makes the same colours.
• A collapsed Ligne Roset Togo goes to an upholsterer who knows the piece and its original foam densities.

Our rule is to do as little as possible and to document everything we do.

We photograph in the workshop (matte cream wall, plain floor, a spot calibrated to a constant colour temperature), always with the same views: the whole piece, three-quarter, markings, wear. Since we retouch nothing, any mark on the piece shows in the picture. It sells more slowly, but you know exactly what you are getting.

The product page gives, in order: designer and manufacturer, estimated date, dimensions, materials, condition and wear, recorded markings, provenance and, for major pieces, bibliographic references.

It stays in draft until it is proofread and the photographs are signed off. Before publishing, we do a last check of the images, the price against comparables and the certificate of authenticity.

The normal pace is about ten pieces a month.

• Circular economy: how we decide between conserving and restoring.
• Identifying a genuine USM Haller: a worked authentication case.
• Trade: sourcing to brief for architects, hotels and productions.
• Sell: offering us a piece takes three minutes.