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"Beauty seekers"
For nearly 50 years, Emile, Nathalie, Emmanuel and Antoine Garcin have been indulging their passion of combining lifestyle and architectural heritage with the aim of offering their discerning customers "houses more imperious than fate itself"*.
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My father, Emile, and my mother have passed on their love for houses and people to each of us, even though our backgrounds are different," says Antoine Garcin of his brother Emmanuel and sister Nathalie. One day, all three of them decided to pursue the same family passion, which represents the defining attribute of a company whose mission goes far beyond simply selling houses. The origins of this unique saga in the French real-estate industry can be traced back to 1963. At the time, Emile Garcin was living in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, a village nestling in the heart of the Provence region and completely unknown to Parisians. In Emile’s eyes, this region is where "houses give some sort of meaning to life". He decided to devote his time to hunting down distinctive buildings and people sharing an affinity with those houses, "similar to introducing two people that you instinctively know will get on together. Are you familiar with the egregore concept," he asks, "a group mind that links together its members, or an association of minds, so to speak?" Opening the eyes of those in search of the house of their dreams, and combining sensitivities with aesthetic values are the goals that Emile Garcin set himself nearly 50 years ago, and which his three children have been pursuing at their father’s side in their chosen territories. "There comes a time in life when it is important to pass on everything that you have received," says their father, an admirer of Eastern philosophy’s great thinkers, "because the aim is to have students who will surpass the master"… Emmanuel oversees the Luberon, Drôme, Alpes de Haute Provence and Var regions. Antoine’s territory is the paradoxical French Riviera, stretching from the coast to the countryside.
Nathalie’s first area was Paris, where the adventure began some 20 years ago in a 18 m² Ricardo Boffil workshop on rue de l’Université; her territory now covers Biarritz, Deauville, Périgord, the Bordeaux region, Megève, Courchevel and the Lyon region. International customers account for 50% of the market in these geographic areas. All three have travelled and occasionally worked abroad, especially in the United States. Just like their father, all three have Provençal blood running through their veins.
there is a Garcin universe, a Garcin philosophy
The region has shown them how to live with the times, which has become infinitely desirable among those in the 21st century with a refined sensitivity to beauty. "The source begins with my father in Saint-Rémy, whence the water flows freely and clear," says Antoine. That explains why there is such a thing today as a "Garcin universe, a Garcin philosophy", embodied by a specific no-franchise approach to their business, which places customer focus above all else. The Garcin culture now flows to the four corners of France and through the offices opened by the family in Marrakesh, Tangiers, Geneva, Brussels, Dublin, London, Boston, St. Barts and soon New York.
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Amelie Nothomb
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