Secrets d'Atelier (Montreux)

A stone's throw from the torrent de la Baye, in the old town of Montreux, a modest boutique is open to the intrigued gaze of passers-by. Behind the

glass, patinated wood, brushes, pigments, pots, bottles and labels with an old-fashioned charm make you want to push open the door. The store's name - Secrets d'Atelier - also arouses curiosity. With a smile, Anne Lamoureux welcomes us between stacks of old-fashioned waxes and honey-colored oils. It's here and at the markets that she sells the natural preparations for which she has patiently developed recipes: products designed to care for wood, nourish leather, give walls a patina and embellish her daily life. To remedy this, fifteen years ago she developed her own linseed oil product, free of toxic solvents, which she offers to customers who buy a piece of furniture from her.

One thing leading to another, Anne Lamoureux tests and adapts other recipes, drawn from the works of the Queen's workshop under Louis XVI. "I use the noble materials of yesteryear, such as beeswax, carnauba, a wax derived from the leaves of a tree in northeastern Brazil, and varnish extracted from the cocoons of hatched insects, but I've done away with siccatives and replaced hydrocarbons and turpentine, natural but potentially allergenic and a water pollutant, with innovative solvents based on fine alcohol or fatty acid esters", she explains.

In 2007, she set up her own business and opened her boutique, which now offers a wide range of products, from wood waxes and parquet oils to wall waxes, natural varnishes, leather balsams and natural earth pigments.

Primarily made up of private individuals looking for healthy products and good advice, its clientele is also expanding to include craftsmen keen to meet the ecological requirements of homeowners. "People today are much better informed and more interested in quality natural products. But I always point out that they take longer to apply and dry than conventional products. You simply have to stop being in a hurry!"