In the sun-bleached city of Béziers, one of France’s oldest urban settlements, Swedish architect Mia Axelsson Masgård and her husband Stefan found a house that whispered of its past. Tucked within the city’s historic core, La Maison B was weathered, layered, and imperfect—but that was precisely its charm.

“We weren’t looking for a perfect home,” Mia explains. “We were looking for history. For soul.”

The house, discovered in September 2023, sat beneath years of unsympathetic renovations—plasterboard, laminate, and paint obscuring the quiet elegance of its original stone walls, wooden beams, and hand-laid terracotta tiles. Where others saw a tired shell, the Masgårds saw possibility. In July 2024, the keys became theirs, and the careful process of peeling back began.

The couple, seasoned renovators in Sweden, quickly found themselves navigating new terrain. “Everything is different here—the materials, the climate, even the language,” says Mia. Their previous projects were wooden; Béziers offered stone, heat, and centuries of construction tradition. “It challenged us to unlearn and rediscover.”

Their guiding philosophy was simple: reveal, don’t cover. With the poetic vision of French design studio Doux Août influencing their approach, Mia and Stefan sought to amplify what was already present. Stone arches were exposed.

Crumbling plaster was removed to uncover lime-rendered walls. “We wanted to create a sensual home,” Mia reflects. “Not sleek or modern, but poetic and grounded.”

It was during this search for honest materials that MAS MAYA entered the scene. Discovered through Instagram and later experienced firsthand in Spain, the brand’s matte, mineral-rich finishes—made with plant extracts and developed with timeless surfaces in mind—felt like a natural fit.

Mia had long been interested in surface treatments like microcement, though they rarely suited Sweden’s timber-framed homes. MAS MAYA offered something more tactile and regionally appropriate: a material that felt rooted in place. She reached out to the founders—who, serendipitously, had Swedish roots—and soon the first samples arrived.

Today, the studio space—completed as the first phase of the larger renovation —features MAS MAYA in the Natural tone across walls, ceilings, even a customsink. Painter Maxime and his team explored textural variations, from smooth to coarse, depending on the room. “The color grounds the space,” Mia says. “It gives balance to the bold patterned cement tiles and creates this calm, cohesive feeling.”

The couple has embraced experimentation—sometimes with mixed results. The sink, for example, will need refinishing after unexpected staining. But they’ve taken it all in stride. “You learn by doing,” Mia says. “And what MAS MAYA allows is a surface that doesn’t pretend. It breathes with the house.”

As the next chapter of the renovation begins, 600 kg of MAS MAYA awaits application. The vision remains clear: a home that feels peaceful, elemental, and emotionally resonant. “We want each space to speak quietly but beautifully,” Mia shares. “Not to impress, but to feel like it has always been this way.”

Asked to define MAS MAYA in a single word, Mia doesn’t hesitate: Tranquil. And would they recommend it? “To everyone,” she smiles.

Our Natural colour — the most popular in our collection — captures the pure essence of limestone with its soft, off-white tone. Calming and timeless, it brings warmth and quiet balance to any space, letting the material’s natural texture take centre stage.

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