Buying vintage design furniture in Bordeaux

At Pessac, between 1924 and 1926, Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret built the Cité Frugès, fifty-one houses commissioned by the sugar industrialist Henry Frugès. It was one of the first testing grounds for his ideas, and the site is now protected. The centre of Bordeaux, with its World Heritage Port de la Lune, is the opposite: eighteenth-century flats with generous proportions.

From the sixties on, people in Bordeaux were happy to put modern furniture into those old flats. What comes out of them is often large, made for rooms that new buildings no longer have, and that is exactly what the Paris market is after and cannot find.

What we look for first

• In the Triangle d'Or, the Chartrons and on the right bank, we look for large formats: sideboards over two metres long, tables for eight to twelve, wall-length bookcases, seating in quantity.
• In Pessac, Le Bouscat and Caudéran, contemporary architecture arrived early in the wake of the Cité Frugès, and the furniture bought at the time interests us.
• Châteaux and wine estates that refurbish release lots where antiques sometimes sit alongside good contemporary pieces.

1. 01

   Photographs

   Send us overall views, the marks, any wear and the dimensions. You can attach the photographs straight to the form at the foot of the page.

2. 02

   Valuation within 24 to 48 h

   We value from photographs wherever the piece is, so distance makes no difference to how quickly we reply. The valuation comes with an offer of outright purchase or consignment.

3. 03

   Collection

   In Bordeaux, we arrange collection, and on an outright purchase we pay for it. A specialist carrier or one of our own runs handles it, and you have nothing to pack or dismantle. The 585 km or so from Paris go into our calculation, and we confirm the timing with the offer.

4. 04

   Payment

   On an outright purchase, we pay by bank transfer on the day of signature, within 48 working hours at the latest, and never in cash above legal thresholds. On consignment, you remain the owner until the sale, and we take a commission agreed in advance.

We can also come and value in person, usually from five pieces or for a configuration of real value. We work from Paris and Auxerre, and we have no establishment in Bordeaux.

• USM Haller, every year and colour
• Ligne Roset, including the Togo collection
• Cassina, original editions and documented reissues
• Knoll, American and European editions
• Castiglioni, Charlotte Perriand, Jean Prouvé, Vico Magistretti
• Italian mid-century from the fifties to the seventies, Scandinavian and Nordic modular systems

We leave aside mass reissues made after 2000, copies and pieces that cannot be identified, pieces too damaged to restore, and furniture with no design interest.

Are large pieces harder to sell?

Not in our segment. A three-metre sideboard appeals to fewer people than a small piece, but the ones it appeals to are more determined, because so few come up. What costs is transport, which we build into the valuation rather than discover afterwards.