Journey to the Land of the Chair-makers.

Continuing the tradition of the capital of basket-weaving.

By a twist of fate, the small village of Vallabrègues lies in Provence. At the beginning of the 18^th century, the village was on the right bank of the River Rhône. Then the course of the river was diverted by exceptionally heavy flooding and Vallabrègues was isolated on the left bank. Ever since then, the capital of the basket-weaving industry and wooden chairs has been part of Provence. There were once many chair-makers’ workshops in Vallabrègues. They provided work for a large number of villagers: the women wove the straw chair bottoms in their homes. The Monleau workshop is one of the oldest in Vallabrègues. It was set up in 1872 by Eugène Lafont, on the rue Nationale. On the death of its founder, Rosa his wife, then his son Etienne, took over the workshop, which at one time employed as many as 22 workers. Roger Monleau, who had been working since the age of 12 in the workshop, then married Irma Lafont and took over management of the workshop.

"A Compagnon du Tour de France (a rare and prestigious honour granted to master craftsmen), he was my great-great grandfather”, says the workshop’s current owner. Traditionally, Saint Joseph’s Day, the 19^th of March, was a feast day for chair-makers. Workshop owners would provide lunch for their workers, although they were not given the day off!

Unfortunately, the number of chair-makers has diminished over the years and many workers have been replaced by machines.

Now the Monleau company only has two men in the workshop and nine outworkers who weave the straw bottoms and paint the chairs. Originally, the workshops only produced everyday chairs and some other small pieces of furniture. Nowadays, the chairs made in the workshops are specially styled.

The Monleau company follows trends carefully and has created 24 different models: Provençal, Arlesien, Comtadin, Gardois, Michon, Camargue, Bergère, Gerbe (sheaf), Campagnard, Louis XIII, Louis XIV, Louis Philippe...

2500 articles leave the workshop annually. The current fashion is for painted chairs. A highly skilled craftsman is required for this painting technique, made up of glaze and patina. As for the straw, rye straw, with its antique or gilded colours, is woven onto raffia or reed straw ribbing. The raffia comes from Madagascar, the rye straw from the Aveyron and the wood currently used is always beech.

It is a great pleasure to enter the Monleau showroom, which extends along the rue Nationale, as there are so many models to look at. Waxed wooded chairs, painted chairs, armchairs, fireside radassiers (straw-bottomed sofas) and magnificent tables jostle for space, rivalling each other for beauty and elegance. On the wall of the showroom, a photo of a chair catches your eye. It is the famous chair painted by Van Gogh  which was made in the Monleau workshop.

The workshop is known all over the world. Several foreign TV stations have visited us, and we were recently featured on Swedish TV. We are also expecting a visit from an American TV station in the near future.

All this reflects our international appeal; we have had a well established international clientele for many years now.