Scoubidou…..my new French vintage obsession

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If theres one thing I love more than a good flea market, its a french flea market, its such a joy to unearth something new and I’m always sure to find something I haven’t seen before, this year Scoubidou is my latest discovery.

Scoubidou is a knotting craft, originally aimed at children, that was a fad in the 1950’s. I don’t know if I love the name because it is pronounced like the name of everyone’s favourite Dog cartoon character, or that it was named after a hit song of the same name by Sacha Distel in 1958, yes really, either way it’s pure retro in spirit and I love it!

scoubidou

Marche aux Puces

It was at the Marche aux Puces (fleamarket) in the French town of Grimaud, that I first encountered Scoubidou in the flesh, having seen it briefly before via a few french sellers on Etsy and Ebay. The market became my summer obsession whilst staying in the south of France this year, its a huge and varied market, full of vintage treasures. It’s held every Sunday of every week of the year and is a real destination for visitors and locals alike. They come to browse and bargain and round it all off with a Rose brunch on the terrace of the restaurant that hosts it, marvellous, thats my kind of market! So it was pre-brunch on the first occasion I visited that I came across these woven beauties. I loved the varying colours, shapes and patterns.

colourful Scoubidou at Grimaud flea market

It never pays to look too keen, too early…

So having asked the seller some questions about it, I got an idea of price and then moved on. My plan, like any seasoned vintage hunter being, I needed to look around at other sellers, compare prices and quality, plus it never pays to look too keen too early, if you know what I mean. This turned out to be a mistake on this occasion as I didn’t actually find anyone else selling it that morning. I got waylaid looking at other things and by the time I thought to go back, the crowds had amassed and it became so hot it was time to go. I decided to return the following week and try again.

The gorgeous shapes and patterns of Scoubidou

scoubidou
scoubidou

The following week came, I rushed along early to the same stall holder confident of a good deal, but guess what? He had sold every piece he had the week before! Crestfallen I searched the market again for others, but alas found nothing. As well as being disappointed, the acquisition of Scoubidou was now of course now even appealing if not essential! Anyway I consoled myself with some gorgeous woven flasks, one of which I was particularly drawn to because of an orange Scoubidou-like plastic weave through it’s middle. I loved the way this collection worked together. Feeling temporarily compensated with my new treasures, I left and pretty quickly afterwards started trawling Etsy and Ebay for Scoubidou!

Vintage woven flasks

The Scoubidou of my dreams, I eventually found in a French shop on Etsy. I love all the brightly coloured options and there are a lot of those to choose from, but I particularly liked the sophistication of this group of black and red ones. Although they are all slightly different in shape and colour they all work really nicely together as a collection.

Scoubidou arrives at the Farmhouse

Scoubidou at the farmhouse

Collections allow you to ring the changes, by splitting them up and changing them around…

I do like to buy small collections of things because you can style them in groups for maximum impact and of course they can also stand alone, plus it gives you options to split them and change them up to ring the changes.

Scoubidou in the Farmhouse

scoubidou
Scoubidou in the farmhouse kitchen

So here they are, my lovely Scoubidou collection finally residing at the Farmhouse. I’ve been splitting them up, rearranging them and moving them around to different areas, searching for the perfect setting and combination. The truth is though, they work so well in so many places around the house that they will probably end up living in several places  and I will swop them in and out to ring the changes from time to time, which will keep things fresh and allow me to enjoy them in different ways.

Scoubidou in the Farmhouse

I suspect this won’t be the end of my Scoubidou collection and I that I will likely be back at that market again next summer in search of more, but in the meantime, they are a little daily reminder of french summers and happy days…

Scoubidou in the Farmhouse

scoubidou

A bientot mes amis,

Jane Ashton Signature

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