Since 2019, you have been working on a project called "Patrimoine vivant" (Living Heritage) which explores the possible applications of earthen materials: can you tell us more about it?
To put the genesis of this project into context: in 2007, I established my design studio, and I started this project with bees that would last ten years. At the same time, in 2012, I accidentally got my hands dirty in the desire for an outlet and the opportunity to experiment with new materials. At the beginning, it was weekly, three hours a week, with a great teacher, Patrick Loughran. In 2017, everything accelerated when I co-founded a workshop and a collective called Gangster with three other ceramists in the Bastille district of Paris. There was the magic of establishing our space, of the four of us creating a practice together... This adventure lasted three years. It came to an end at the beginning of 2020 independently of the context of the pandemic and more because of the response to Gangster and the development of our individual art practices.
Gangster has been a real springboard for all of us, and most of us have since relocated to grow our work and, more importantly, to have a bigger, more adequate workspace.
At the beginning of 2019, I wanted to focus my research work on what interests me most fundamentally, i.e. the material itself, earth, whether raw or fired. Clay and wood are the oldest materials, and today, at a time of accelerated global warming, loss of biodiversity and scarcity of resources and raw materials, clay offers an alternative that opens up a significant range of possibilities. It is a durable, non-polluting, multi-purpose, recyclable, and inexpensive material that can be found almost anywhere on the planet, yet it is still undervalued and underused.
Working with clay allows us to draw upon a history spanning time and encompassing expertise from the most ancient to current innovations, from cutting-edge engineering that uses ceramics to design rocket parts, electrical insulators for high-voltage lines and prostheses in the medical field... It is a material that builds and nourishes, cutting across the domains of both agriculture and construction. This research project highlights the living, global heritage that is our soil. The future is beneath our feet.
Patrimoine vivant (Living Heritage), an applied research project and a plea for the earth, aims to develop multi-sector uses for the clay material that links our living spaces to our lifestyles (nature/culture/food).
The project aims to bring together a network of partners and expertise around this common material, from the potters who dig their own clay to the industrialists who manufacture ceramic parts using cutting-edge technology. The intention is to make manufacturing processes viable and sustainable, eventually generating a transdisciplinary clay system (housing, furniture, objects, food), sustainable and accessible to the largest number of people.