La Petite Provence - history
La Petite Provence started in 2012 out of love for France and especially for Provence, its glowing hot fragrant summers, rocky alleys echoing small villages, sociable people, everyday beauty, small shops, great French professional pride and rural love, the call of church bells in small villages, olive groves, lavender fields, Mediterranean waves.. .to a dream about what could be and a journey of imagination about what could have once been in the stone alleys of small hill villages around the church :)
La Petite Provence was born from the joy I experienced after being able to rest in the lively village life of Provence, intoxicating aromas, rooting flavors and heartbreakingly beautiful landscapes during a difficult phase of my life.
At the end of many years of dreaming, I was able to build my cottage in Provence, or actually my second home. The time spent in Provence has been enriching my life with all its wonderful things and also with its wrinkles.
After starting life in Provence, I very soon felt like it was tickling that bringing those so uplifting atmospheres to the north of Finland would also make others happy - and because I also thought that working on things that make people happy and beautiful might be quite nice, I went for it.
In 2013, I started collaborating with small Provençal artisan manufacturers, selling their handiwork in my small online store for the joy of my customers' homes. Some time after that, I half-accidentally opened the doors of my studio on Turku's Puistokatu to random visitors, and after noticing how the visitors fell in love, I was encouraged to finally open a shop in the core of Turku on Kristiinanakatu, where I enjoyed myself for a few years. After that, I worked for a few years on Puistokatu in Turku at: Puistokatu 8 and now Pikku Provence only operates as an online store. The transition of the warehouse and packing house to a purchasing service freed me to enjoy France even more, and now I work from both Finland and France.
I have operated most of the time of the shop's existence in the middle of the deepest economic recession, even going through the corona, and I am grateful that I have been able to bring small joyous experiences in the form of the atmosphere of the shop to those visitors who have not been able to purchase anything from the shop. It has been immensely gratifying to see the visitors refreshed by their spin in the shop and on La Petite Provence's social media channels on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.
With many, we have spent long hours in the shop or on the phone, talking about life's twists and turns, spiritual things and what is of course quite obvious; From Provence and France :) Now it's La Petite Provence's turn for another recession and immediately after the corona time to deal with, which isn't quite over either. The ups and downs of my own life have spiced up the grind as a caregiver for a mentally disabled child, with problems spanning 24 years of marriage and eventually divorce.
Over the years, La Petite Provence's selection has expanded from artisanal soaps and fragrances to accessories, textiles and delicacies, and today the selection varies both seasonally and annually, with a few perennial favorites remaining on the lists year after year. I have already passed on a few pieces of furniture.
With regular visits to Provence, I maintain relationships with local producers, learn more and more about such fascinating Frenchness and Provence, and sniff out the atmosphere and am constantly looking for new wonderful romance and Frenchness for the joy of Finnish homes and those who love France.
As part of my travels, I bring new wonderful things to La Petite Provence for you to enjoy, I update the blog with variable activity and an Instagram photo stream of the atmosphere of Provence. A few pictures and moods sometimes appear on La Petite Provence's Facebook pages as well.
Today, in addition to all this, I also get to enjoy product development cooperation with professionals, help women as a solution-oriented coach and host you lovely people in my little house on the mountainside of a tiny Provençal village in France. I love all these opportunities I have to serve you <3
I hope you enjoy my little shop and its French atmosphere! Let's talk!
Best regards,
Katarina <3
Questions? Call me on 040 7203581 / Katariina
