About the Brocanteuse

bro-can-teuse: French, Noun, PL brocanteuses, SUF-euse
feminine equivalent of brocanteur antique dealer or one who buys and sells at flea markets.

OUR SERVICES

As a complement to the wares for sale on our retail website and Etsy store, we also love to consult with our clients to find the rare, the ideal, and the unexpected. You will see some of the fabulous pieces available via our online offering, and we also have significant advance stocks not yet listed, available for wholesale sale.

Many of our satisfied clients are themselves antique and homewares retailers. We also undertake sourcing for interior designers, set productions, and restaurants, along with private clients with special projects. We send internationally, with an unbeatable success rate for our fragile shipments of better than 99%. 

Get in touch with us to see how we can delight you with premium service alongside the best of French antique design!

 

OUR STORY

The story of Brocanteuse Vintage begins 5 years ago, when my husband and I and our (then) two-year-old son moved to France from New Zealand after finding our dream home in the French countryside. Moving from a busy city life where I had a successful contemporary art gallery, to live full time in rural South Western France was a huge change, but it has been a truly amazing experience. We all love it.

While renovating and decorating our old stone house, I discovered a new passion for uncovering the many treasures that pop up in the brocante (flea market) sales and vide maisons (empty house sales) close to our home. My house began to fill with the most beautiful old objects - heirloom silver, ceramics, glass - and all found in a small radius from our home. Now that my house is complete, I found I didn't want to stop my new 'habit' - so I decided to offer these wonderful objects to others who appreciate their beauty and history. Brocanteuse Vintage was born!

There are many very ancient houses here in rural France (our own house is over 800 years old), and these have often occupied for centuries by the same family. So, there are some truly amazing things that can be found when someone finally gets around to clearing out grand-mère's armoire! It is my delight and passion to sift these precious objects from the myriad of stuff on offer in the brocantes in my local area - to clean, research, catalogue, and photograph them - and then to offer these little jewels to a new owner.

Rather than buying to a formula, I tend to rely on my eye for aesthetics developed over the past decades working in the fine arts. For this reason, the items in my store are stylistically quite eclectic - you'll find everything from baroque revival to mid-century modern and a range of materials - but the one thing that unifies every item I sell is that something about the piece appears singular and beautiful to me.

I personally enjoy items with a little damage here and there, things where you can see the passage of time, as well as those items that seem to have miraculously made it through a century without so much as a scratch. You'll find both types in my store, and I'm always careful to describe honestly and to price items according to their condition.

Although I buy instinctively, I very much enjoy researching the pieces I find after I own them, and often unearth interesting information about my pieces. I also enjoy informing people as much as possible about the items in my store - not only the condition and appearance, but also its place in the history of design and its aesthetic attributes. To me, this adds to the joy of owning a genuine antique item and I love to share as much of this information as possible so you can fully appreciate the item and enjoy it on many levels.

I'm always happy to assist you with any questions, of course; or, if you are looking for something in particular, I would love to scout for the perfect item for you - just get in touch and we can discuss what you are looking for.

Thanks for taking the time to read my story :) I hope you enjoy the experience of browsing the French delights I've found as much I enjoy bringing them to you!

xo

Kylie