Our story

The desire to collaborate with artisans to promote their “savoir-faire” in the crafting of a unique and organic product is at the origin of our journey. it started in Toulouse, at the heart of the “country of cocagne”, where woad was used to dye in blue during the middle age and renaissance. it is this unique blue tone that has been at the heart of our creative process and that is now enriched with other vegetal colors.

Woad is one of the oldest dye stuff. it was used by the picts who painted themselves in blue to scare the romans.“Cocagne” is the bowl of woad leaves that gives this noble and natural blue color coming from ancestral dyeing technics. In France this tradition of dyeing with woad was existing around the city of Amiens (Picardie region – north of france) as of the 11^th century.

At the time of “Renaissance” (from the XV to the XVII century), the region of Toulouse takes the European leadership in the trading of Woad. However, the importation of Indigo from India and Central America will take over the Woad trading.Today, in partnership with French artisans based in Picardie we are proud to reviving this old tradition of Woad dyeing as well as introducing new vegetal colors.

Artisanal dye in Picardie-France

Estelle has worked closely with us to develop the artisanal dye process. It was her father who relaunched the woad culture in the region 40 years ago. Today Helene is continuing this journey. All of us share the passion of maintaining this heritage while introducing new vegetal colors.

The products are delicately dipped in the dye vat to achieve our unique colors. You need about 6 dips to reach a deep and uniform tone.
For technical reasons some items like wool knitwear are dyed in an industrial environment in Italy or Portugal. These industrial partners are expert in natural dyed and are certified OEKOTEX® or WOOLMARKECO®

Vegetal Colors

Woad and Indigo allow us to achieve unique shades of blue.

Onion and Gallnut allow us to achieve beige and brown shades.

Linen and Natural Fabrics

We favor linen in our collections due to its unique properties and low impact on the environment. But we also select other premium qualities such as extra fine merino wool, blend of linen with cotton. Our fabrics will beautifully age with time.

Manufacturing

Our products are designed in France. Our manufacturing policy is to favor proximity. Our partners are reknown factories based in France, Italy and Portugal.

Care instructions

Our products beautifully age with time. Our dye technic ensures a strong color stability but you should be aware that vegetal colors are more sensitive to light than chemical colors. You should therefore avoid letting your item exposed to the sun in a static position for a long period. Most of our products can be machine washed and tumbled dryed but you should check specific care instructions for each item since some fabrics may require a special care. Make the first wash with like colors.