Since 1978
One house, three generations,
one village
In Saint-Paul-de-Vence, one family has been painting Provence for nearly fifty years.
This is our story.
Since 1978
In Saint-Paul-de-Vence, one family has been painting Provence for nearly fifty years.
This is our story.
It all begins with a house on the fountain square. Five storeys, one room per floor, a trapdoor and a ladder linking the living room to the shop — and a family who, generation after generation, has never stopped painting.
I'm Maeva, founder of Evaïa. This is my story.
1962
In 1962, my grandparents, Claude and André, bought a village house in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, on the Place de la Grande Fontaine. A house with no running water or electricity.
It would become the future home of my grandmother's atelier.
Five floors, one room per level: the shop on the ground floor, the sitting room linked to the shop by a trapdoor and a ladder, the painting studio, the children's bedroom, and finally my grandparents' room under the eaves.
1978
In 1978, my grandmother Claude opened a shop on the ground floor selling hand-painted faience and porcelain. There, she passed on her craft to my father, Jean-Louis, who joined the family atelier.
From this transmission came a shared calling: from the early 1980's, Jean-Louis and Florence, my mother, took over the atelier together — and never left.
In this postcard of the fountain, the man cleaning it is none other than my grandfather André.
1980's–1990's
On the shop's wooden beam, a cat carved by hand by my grandmother. On the sign, a cat forged in iron. On every painted piece, a discreet signature: a small hand-drawn cat.
The wrought-iron sign, shaped by hand — the cat spelled out in every letter.
One of the first plates painted by Claude.
Signature hand-painted by Claude.
This isn't a coincidence — it's a play on words on our family name, Tholance, which has become, over the generations, the silent signature of everything the family creates.
Early 1990's
In the early 1990's, my parents had a house built in Vence, just a few minutes from Saint-Paul. Two ceramic kilns were installed there: this is now where the pieces painted by Florence and Jean-Louis come to life.
The Saint-Paul shop, meanwhile, remains true to its original purpose — welcoming visitors and showcasing, season after season, the atelier's creations.
My own story
A watercolour painted by my grandmother Claude: me, as a child, on the path leading up to the village.
As a teenager, I spent my summers painting in the atelier: small ramekins, jewellery boxes, Provençal floral motifs — fired in the family kilns and sold in the shop alongside my parents' work.
Then my path took a different turn. I studied engineering in electrochemistry and renewable energy, spent a few years in Philadelphia and Chicago, returned to France in Sophia Antipolis, and then spent fifteen years at ADEME — the last four as Head of the Transport and Mobility department.
In February 2026, I left ADEME. My father had just suggested an idea: to reproduce, in series, on porcelain, the watercolours my parents have always painted. Evaïa was born — a return to our roots, to the craft the family had already practised for twenty-five years before turning to watercolour on paper.
The manifesto
"From the earth, porcelain is born. From porcelain, beauty is born. Gaïa offers you beauty, Evaïa brings it to your table. Three generations of one house, a heritage that fits in the palm of a hand."
The Evaïa journal
New collections, behind the scenes from the atelier, Mediterranean art de vivre.