As some of you might have discovered, I spend quite an amount of time scanning the world for interesting things, faces, people, designs or places to get lost. My recent discovery is Abigali in Provence.
The funny thing about getting to know people on social media, is that you feel you get close and personal, while this is actually far from the truth. But getting close and personal might come some time down the lane though. One never knows what happens next. Who says I won´t move to Provence myself one day? Especially after having read Abigail´s story.. one simply never knows!
Abigail grew up on the rocky coast of Maine in the Eastern USA and was surrounded by vintage and antiques pieces from birth. Both of her parents were very interested in antiques and history, and they always lived with and used antique and modern pieces in their home. They weren´t just things to look at and admire in museums, they were a part of every day life. To Abigail this was important as she loves things to be used and serve a purpose.
During Abigail´s upbringing her father worked at a museum in Maine which gave Abigail lots of exposure to how the pieces were used and so skillfully made. She explains how her appreciation for the utility and careful skill of crafting has transferred into a lot of her passions. Later on she trained at a fine arts school in Boston and volunteered at the museum her father worked at in Maine. Abigail became quite good friends with one of her fellow colleagues at the time, a girl from France, who later became the educational director at the museum. Years later, her French friend´s nephew came to do a summer internship at the museum. The first time the French nephew and Abigail met, she was in full American colonial costume in one of the museum´s historical buildings. The outfit must have made quite an impact on the French nephew..
Now he is her husband and father to her little son and her second little love to arrive in August this year. And Maine has been swopped with Provence in France. Abigail has embraced everything about her French life! The countryside, the way of living and the way of cooking.
Abigail says about herself that she has always been creative, always loved the natural world, loved to be in it, working with her hands doing gardening, drawing inspiration from it. When not outside, she is happy inside knitting, cooking, designing and re-decorating her living space.
Treasure hunting has become one of her favorite things to do. Living in France, and in Provence in particular, she has no shortage of places to hunt.
Every single little item you´ll find on her beautiful site Brocante Moderne is handpicked from flea markets in France. She has spent years to discover where to find the best pieces. She keeps a list of her favorite brocantes in the area where she lives and have become good friends with the local sellers. For her it´s like listening to her father again, telling and taking her behind the scenes some how. It all becomes so much more meaningful when she gets to know the stories behind.
Happy Saturday, at a flea market near you or in the basement hunting for lost stories!
