At La Crémade, an old wood-burning stove spreads gentle warmth through the little santon workshop on this cool November afternoon. Santons had been made here for eighty years at the time of this visit. Magali Montagard began at the age of eight alongside her father, a santon maker, Provençal drummer and member of the Félibrige cultural movement. She has turned her childhood passion into a lifetime's work.
Magali Montagard models traditional santons in unfired clay, then dries them in the sun following an old Provençal custom. You will find her flamboyant, mischievous devil nowhere else.
This is more than a santon workshop: it is a place where Provençal folk traditions still thrive, inherited from centuries of history and shaped by the work, joys and sorrows of generations who have lived here.
La Crémade is an old Provençal farmhouse tucked into a small, sunny valley sheltered from the mistral, on the heights of the Vaucluse plateau between Saumane and La Roque-sur-Pernes. La Crémade is open all year, with Magali Montagard welcoming visitors every afternoon.
Magali Montagard, santon maker — La Crémade — Departmental road 57 — 84800 Saumane-de-Vaucluse
Website: www.lacremade-santon.fr — telephone: 04 90 61 64 74
Getting to La Crémade — GPS coordinates: N 43°57'35'' – E 5°06'45''