Fer à Cheval takes you on a journey to discover its finest partner addresses in its new series of exclusive interviews.
Concept store, home decor department store, historic hardware store... each address invites you to enjoy a unique and unusual shopping experience.
To kick off this new adventure, head for Marseille's first "La sélection by Sophie Ferjani" boutique for colorful, local decorating inspiration!
How would you define this place?
The selection is actually made up of two old stores linked by a passageway. It's a place with an incredible soul, which we've managed to preserve as much as possible (for example, we've kept the front of the hardware store, and renovated the front of the bookshop identically). The original volumes have been preserved, but reunited to create a unique space at the bottom of the Panier, Marseille's oldest district. Ten years before I opened the store, I already knew that it would be called La sélection and that I would sell products that were like me, that I could have at home. I work as a family with my husband, and we define ourselves as a family decorating concept-store, where you'll find my selection of decoration, wellness and furniture products, to adopt "the Marseille lifestyle according to Sophie"! It's a great place to stroll with the family, get inspired, and even have a coffee. Here, we like to welcome you as our friends.
What makes your store unique?
Here, the saleswomen aren't saleswomen at all! They are interior designers, scenographers or decorators. At La sélection, we don't try to sell at any cost, but rather to advise our customers, and that's what really makes us unique from other boutiques. Our passion is decorating, and we love creating worlds more than anything else. Our customers come into the store to have a good time, to experience something. We don't carry every product, and our selection evolves according to my inspirations, finds and desires. Three years ago, we also launched an online boutique, which offers a complementary experience to that of the physical store. Every month, we launch a capsule collection on a dedicated theme (Miami, neo western, indigo...), to decipher a major trend or highlight a color. Each time, we involve a local artist or brand, to promote our Marseille identity and our roots in the South a little more each day .
If your store were a smell, a material, a landscape, a sound... What would it look like?
It would be the story of my granny Madeleine, who had a grocery store in my native village. I imagined La sélection with my childhood memories in mind: I love the idea of the creaking parquet floor, like in grandma's attic, then I hear the sound of her heels clicking on the floor tiles in our kitchen area, I smell the Fer à Cheval Marseille soap that immediately plunges us into childhood, like in the Ratatouille cartoon. I open a creaking cupboard in which, as a child, I used to find all my grandmother's hidden treasures, I recall the jars displayed in the kitchen on the open shelves, the terracotta candy box from which we used to steal a harlequin candy... all this is the DNA of La sélection. In short, La sélection is my (granny's) Proust's madeleine!
What's the next not-to-be-missed event?
We set up regular meetings with our customers, both in-store and online. Our capsule collections change every month, and our selection of products and brands evolves regularly in the boutique. We welcome new arrivals every week, so don't hesitate to come back regularly to discover our new products and trends! Of course, you should come and discover my own textile collection "Marseille je t'aime" and "La bonne mère", as well as my Sophie Ferjani paintings, whose colors change with the seasons.
Your three favourite Fer à Cheval products?
For the mom in me: the super-effective stain remover stick.
For the decorator: the cicada soap and soap dish set created in collaboration with Monochromic.
For the indoor and outdoor woman: black soap, for cleaning everything in the house and fighting aphids on plants!
Visit our partner store at :
45, rue de la République, 13002 Marseille
Open Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
0491190409
Store online : https://la-selection.fr/
Discover also Conception, Sophie Ferjani's interior design studio at 43, rue de la République. We offer a two-hour consultancy package and a package for complete architectural projects. Our materials showroom is open without appointment from Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
https://la-selection.fr/pages/architecture-interieure
Photo credit Baligh et Sophie : Yann Lacombe
