Frédéric Fekkai and his wife Shirin von Wulffen have launched Bastide — sensorial products for skin, body and home, made in local workshops by artisans.

“Bastide exists to bring rituals of “slow beauty” into the rush of everyday life. It transports the aura of wellbeing that is pervasive in Provence, and that is engrained in the Provençal way of being, into your life and home,” says von Wulffen.

Fekkai comments, “Provence taught me from an early age that beauty is more than the product that nurtures your skin. Beauty is also the culture you live in and the environment that surrounds you—the land that awakens your senses, the aromatics that grow in your garden, the atmosphere of serenity you share with the people you love.”

Von Wulffen adds, “The essence of Provence, and the soul of Bastide, is the sensation of living beautifully—living simply and authentically, fed and nourished within and without.”

Hand-Crafted By Bastide’s Beautisans

The collection represents a homecoming for Fekkai—and a celebration of his native Aix-en-Provence where traditionally trained savonniers (soap makers), candlemakers, fragrance noses and glassmakers co-exist with organic chefs and contemporary designers.

Fekkai and von Wulffen returned to their family bastide in Aix and recruited the best of these heritage makers—dubbed Bastide’s Beautisans—to compose and craft the collections’ lotions, soaps, fragrances and candles, and unexpected cult products like scented amber crystals.

A Black List, for Banned Ingredients

Every product is formulated in accordance to the brand’s Black List, a rigorous filter of banned ingredients. Formulations follow a strict code of toxin-free ingredients (fragrances exceed the E.U. criteria for safety) and ensures each artisan’s workshop is eco-certified. Bastide also invests in the sustainable growing and cultivating of its locally sourced ingredients.