~Loane interior: My encounter with Japan~
My teenage years were filled with Japan, as my interest in the country grew and I delved deeper and deeper into the profoundness of Japanese culture.
I am French. I was born and raised in a small town in the Burgundy region of France. Around my home, there were fields of corn and sunflowers, and cows and horses grazed freely in the rich natural countryside. As a child, I spent my days going to the forest to pick mushrooms and cyclamen flowers.
In addition to playing in nature, my childhood held other enjoyable memories: the time I spent with Japanese anime. Back then, Japanese anime was very popular with French children, and the Game Boy was also trending. It was a very stimulating and exciting time for me, who had grown up surrounded by nature.
Then, in my teenage years, my interest shifted from anime and games to Japanese culture and the Japanese language. After visiting Japan as a tourist, seeing Todai-ji Temple and various festivals in Tohoku, I fell deeply in love with Japan. When I was a university student, I left France to study at a Japanese university, and then I ended up working in Japan.
~Discovering the good in France~
For me, France and French culture are a part of me, something close at hand. So much so that I didn't even pay attention to it. For that reason, the more I lived in Japan and learned about its good qualities, the more I became acutely aware of France's shortcomings and negative aspects. I even came to dislike France.
Then one day, I was put in charge of imports from Europe.
My feelings of "France is nothing special" had grown. However, as I saw and touched the interior items and tableware imported from France, I began to feel the brilliance of French craftsmanship and design, and a very human warmth. When I encountered items that brought back memories, my heart would sometimes ache with nostalgia.
The good qualities of "Made in France" and the warmth of human touch, which I had never paid attention to before, became increasingly visible and tangible to me. Eventually, I strongly began to feel, "I want to share the goodness and warmth of France with everyone in Japan, whom I love." At the same time, the feeling that "I miss my homeland, France" also began to sprout.
~Loane interior~
Filled with the desire to personally bring the "goodness and warmth of France" that I feel to everyone in Japan, I launched Loane interior in 2020.
Loane interior started by importing mainly interior items.
We find and sell "Made in France" products, even small ones, that can blend into your daily life. My Japanese may not be perfect, and some sentences might be difficult to understand, but I strive every day, hoping that you can feel even a little of the goodness, warmth, and humor of France.
Currently, with the cooperation of staff living in France, we are handling the procurement process.
We connect remotely with our team in France, asking them to find antique items at flea markets or to directly communicate with producers like Digoin and Rêves d'Argile to procure pottery.
In the future, I have countless challenges I want to undertake, such as regularly traveling to France for procurement, holding talk lives with French kilns via Instagram Live, sharing the beauty of French forests and grasslands, and planning tours of France.
"A day when happiness bloomed in my ordinary life."
I will not forget the day I came to love France, and I will continue to nurture Loane interior with gratitude for my homeland, France, and for Japan, where I live now.