Journal » Dans le journal | Atelier Sao

Photography: Ludovic Charles

Following her training in cabinetmaking, Anne-Sophie Ricco founded Atelier Sao, a creative space dedicated to working with solid wood. Inspired by her travels in Africa, her cultural background and her passion for craftsmanship, she creates unique pieces that bridge the gap between furniture and sculpture. For the 10th anniversary of Sessùn's DIVINE bag, Atelier Sao has reinvented it in its own image, incorporating different types of wood.

Could you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your artistic and professional background?

My name is Anne-Sophie Ricco and I started working freelance with wood at the end of 2021, after completing my professional training at Ecole Boulle in Paris. As a teenager, I had the good fortune to live in Africa, where I discovered statuary, furniture and functional wooden objects stamped with the patina of time. In my former professional life, I worked in the cultural field, in cinema and in international cooperation. All these life experiences and foreign travels have shaped me a great deal, and over time I have developed a particular sensitivity for the different forms of craftsmanship and for the noble, demanding, living and plural material that wood is.
Three years ago, I decided to shift my career path towards a creative profession with a strong emphasis on handwork, so woodworking was a natural choice for me.
I created Atelier Sao, a workshop entirely dedicated to working with solid wood, offering small series of pieces at the crossroads of furniture and sculpture.

What inspired you to choose the name “Atelier Sao” for your creative project?

It's a reference to the African continent, which I wanted to pay homage to. The Sao people are an ancient civilization from Central Africa, known for being artists, giants endowed with prodigious powers. I'm not very tall, but I thought it would certainly give me strength.

How would you describe your relationship with the materials you use in your creations?

Sensitive, emotional and contemplative. Playful too: I play with essences, rough edges, the unexpected and the experimental to fashion pieces where textures, colors and diverse shapes interact.

What materials and techniques do you favor in your work?

I work exclusively with solid wood, mainly French species, with a slight preference for fruit trees (plum, pear) when I can find them. I sometimes work with precious woods such as wenge and padouk when I recover unused scraps. My first order was for a Jean Michel Frank-inspired two-door cabinet, which the customer wanted entirely in textured solid oak with a very irregular, dented, even “ripped” appearance. It was a challenge for me, as I'd never worked with gouges before. I loved giving form to this piece of furniture, and since then, texture work has become an integral part of my projects, like a second skin.

How do you factor ecological concerns into your artistic approach and choice of materials?

Whenever possible, for small objects, I recycle wood scraps from my workshop. I find this to be very important. My supplier is also my ally, he sometimes gives me exotic wood essences ready to be thrown away, which I am delighted to bring back to the workshop. It allows me to explore rarer species with less ecological impact, and to give new life to the material.

Scraps can be a powerful springboard for ideas and creativity, I also enjoy working with scraps and have a lot of fun with it.

What are your main sources of inspiration?

Anything that nurtures a certain kind of imagination, beauty, dreaminess and poetry, ... so lots of things! In a few words, I find “primitive” African and Oceanic art fascinating in terms of its multiplicity of lines, symbols and forms. These objects have a very special “power”. I also love Georgia O' Keeffe’s paintings, surrealism, the curves and colors of Erna Aaltonen's ceramics, the philosophy of the Nabi painters. And on a more contemporary note, the baroque and dreamlike productions of designer Benjamin Foucaud.

Could you tell us about the collaboration between Atelier Sao and Sessùn and what it means to you to transform recycled materials into art pieces?

For Sessùn, I design oak cutlery and sets of small recycled spoons. These are all made from scraps, and are shaped spontaneously to suit my instinct and the constraints imposed by the material. I started making them when I moved into my first workshop on a brownfield site, where I had very little equipment, just small scraps and a small scroll saw. It gave me a certain freedom and I really enjoy this collaboration.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Sessùn's DIVINE bag, a dozen artisans, which included yourself, were invited to reinvent this iconic bag. Could you tell us about your participation in this project and how you reimagined the Divine bag?

Reinterpreting the Divine bag was a very interesting project. For me, this bag is feminine, elegant and contemporary, with a touch of fantasy: there are different insets, details and textures. I wanted to give the feel of this multi-faceted, slightly “pop” look to the wood, in keeping with my desire to make different species cohabit. So I created a patchwork bag combining wenge, oak and pear wood. There are small round inlays of padouk, sycamore and brass for a slightly more “chic” touch.

The bag's handle was a bit of a challenge. I initially planned it as a rigid, textured pine handle, but finally opted for a supple shoulder strap sculpted from basswood links.

What is your latest artistic inspiration?

It's musical. A jazz trio discovered in a concert this summer, “Le cri du Caire”: the voice of a young Egyptian Sufi singer blending with the strings of the cello and the flights of the saxophone. It was a hypnotic, almost mystical experience!

What are your future plans and ambitions for Atelier Sao?

To pursue artistic collaborations that appeal to me, to continue to explore and learn, and to create and launch a line of small furniture in 2025.