“Piece by piece, I tried to let go of the ideas I didn’t care about and I tried to reach within. During one of these meditations, I heard my own voice telling me, ‘But it’s all already here inside you. You have already done this.’”

“The beauty of flowers is as powerful as the pleasure of touching another human’s body, another who has lived and experienced this world with all the pain that it contains. Pain is also the beauty of this world.”

“We’re trying to live life simply and with as little impact on the environment as possible by working less and spending less money. Instead, we prioritise spending more time at home with each other and our children.”

“I found a red Aura in Mystras and in my beloved island of Hydra. It is an Aura that Dionysus would consider worthy. It is the colour of his Bacchic wine and his goat-killing epithet.”

“When I sit down in front of the canvas and start painting, it is purely instinctive. I often start off with one idea and then I take off on my path. It is an intuitive journey, an often surprising, astonishing and wonderful adventure.”

Meet Italian heritage weaver Marta Cucchia who is the guardian of Laboratorio Giuditta Brozzetti with this exclusive excerpt from her story inside Issue 11 of FAIRE

Laboratorio Giuditta Brozzetti is a beloved weaving workshop in Perugia, Italy where master weaver Marta Cucchia continues her great-grandmother Giuditta Brozzetti’s mission to preserve the ancient weaving tradition of Umbria. Like so many heritage crafts, this ancient traditional weaving risked extinction in the early 20th century in the face of industrialisation and globalisation. Fortunately, four generations of incredible women have fought to save this craft in a mighty show of innovation, passion, talent and entrepreneurship. Today, under the dedicated watch of Marta Cucchia, the Giuditta Brozzetti workshop remains one of the last hand-weaving ateliers on Jacquard looms in Italy.

Meet French creative couple Marthe Desmoulins and Franck Dorat with an exclusive sneak peek into their story inside Issue 11 of FAIRE

Twenty years ago, Marthe Desmoulins and Franck Dorat left behind creative careers that spanned Paris, New York and Japan for a slower life in a small town in the heart of Provence.

Marthe has spent most of her professional life championing artists and creatives. She founded her legendary first boutique, Absinthe, in Paris in 1989 before going on to be an artistic director and buyer for the New York concept store Destination and then Bazar et Garde Manger in Japan.

Franck is a creative jack of all trades, having worked in cinema set design and 3D special effects. Inspired by the work of Alexander Calder, he creates sculptures in wire and ceramics from his atelier in Pernes-les-Fontaines. Today, they collaborate on and curate L’Atelier de Chauffe, a gallery filled with storied ceramics, art, curiosities and antique finds.

“Many of us start in the paper world for all the wrong reasons. We get into it for aesthetic reasons because we are bourgeois intellectuals and we often have no sense of reality. Yet reality obliges us to go in a certain direction and practice allows us to refine our papermaking.”

“I can clearly remember the moment when I announced to my mother and grandmother, ‘I want to be an antique dealer!’ I was 16 years old.”