By Avi Dresner
Photographs by Stephanie Zollshan
The multi-purpose space reflects the multiple talents of its owners, Molly and Aurélien de St André. The couple designs and screenprints much of what is sold here, while almost everything else is made by local artists.
The first thing that may catch your eye is the enormous antique wooden sailboat mounted on a wooden base that says HOME. Inside it are just some of the whimsical wares for sale, including handwoven wallets and purses, a framed set of hand-designed Berkshire-themed postcards and a silkscreened poster of New York City’s High Line.
Nearby shelves display handmade pottery, soap, candles, and Berkshire-themed tea towels. Paintings and prints adorn the walls, and racks showcase colorful cotton children’s clothing printed with graphic motifs including pineapples, avocados, and assorted pasta shapes from the owners’ petit pilou line.
Molly is from the Boston area and Aurél, as he’s called for short, is from La Rochelle on the western coast of France. They met in 2006 in Afghanistan, where both of them were working for the Turquoise Mountain Foundation, a non-governmental organization based in Kabul whose mission is to revive Afghanistan’s traditional arts and architecture through education, restoration, and the creation of an economic niche for the fine craft products of the country.
Molly’s work involved creating an art school, where masters would teach traditional techniques, and Aurél worked as a graphic designer. “I interviewed and hired him,” Molly said, and Aurél chuckled over how she “hired” him permanently four years later, when they married soon after moving to the Berkshires (the area was on Molly’s radar from the two years she’d spent at Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington).
Their new space also serves as the headquarters for the couple’s other businesses—Berkshire Four Poster (you’ve probably seen their delightful seasonal poster series), and Moho Design Creative, which, among other things, specializes in creating logos and branding for local businesses. You’ll often spot Molly and Aurél back behind the jewelry cases, which mark the boundary between the retail space and workshop, designing and printing right before your eyes.
The couple has plans to offer silkscreening workshops by the summer and Aurél would also love to share his passion for Afghan cameras—giant, pinhole box cameras, which make beautifully evocative works of art. Peeking through the front window of Bon Dimanche, that’s easy to imagine.
