I am based in Cannes, South of France, very close to Vallauris, a traditional center for pottery (from Roman times). A significant portion of my 2022 activity is now permanently exposed in a Restaurant called Too in Paris, decorated by designer Philip Starck whose agency chose my ceramics, a great source of pride and motivation.
I am also represented by a few galleries here and there, but I am in direct contact most of the time with ceramic collectors.
I started ceramics as a professional activity in September 2020, after spending 2 years to learn the basics, in a ceramic schools called EACV in Vallauris. After several decades working in Finance, and although I still love numbers, I felt the need to evolve in a less constrained and sequenced world, with more freedom to act and artistic involvement.
I started with zoomorphic shapes, creating functional pieces of art, mostly vases. I am continuing this journey, gradually freeing myself from the functionality (although still there, but less obvious) and evolving towards tools-like shapes, hybrids that I like to call ‘archaeological vessels from the future’ - probably a humorous reflection of ceramics as a humanity timeless playground.
Working alone, with a high failure rate (specific to ceramics) is the price to pay for the freedom of creation. Not always as easy as expected, but contact and recognition from ceramist peers, lovers, or collectors brightens the routine. And of course, the artistic process is a constant challenge and pleasure when pieces come out in one piece from the kiln.
My work is right between craft and art, with the function always there but probably not as important as the sculpture expressiveness. I describe myself as a “craftist” and the piece matters more than the concept - it would be counterproductive for me to intellectualize anything in the production process.
My favourite artist is Suzanne Ramié, a ceramicist from the 50’s who founded the Madoura studio with her husband in Vallauris. They both provided support to major artists like Picasso or Matisse. Her personal ceramic work is mostly around functional but sculptural and balanced pieces, using colour glazes mostly as a shape valuation. She abolished the difference between the sculpture and the functional object, in a very simple and modest way.
My favourite piece is a vase in red stoneware, inspired by a fossil of a now extinct animal called Hallucigenia, found at the beginning of the 20th century in red clay layers dated from 500 million years (following a discussion with a Palaeontologist friend who thought it might be a source of inspiration - it definitely was). Fun fact: palaeontologists at first not only thought that their feet were their hands, but they also believed their behind was their head. Besides, the fossil had a mocking smile when they looked at it for the first time under the microscope. It is a very humorous story of an old confusing shape which inspired me this towards the red stoneware vase family, where the legs might be at the top and the vase is ready to run and smile.
