Manon Bouvier is a straw marquetry artist and a 2021 laureate of the Fondation Rémy Cointreau. After training in cabinetmaking and an internship in marquetry, she created the Paelis workshop in 2016. In 2019, she was named Meilleur Ouvrier de France in the “Straw Marquetry” category, becoming the third straw marquetry artist to receive this distinction. Discover her career in this new episode of “Artisan of the Month!”.
The Trade
Straw marquetry is an ancestral craft dating back to the 17th century. Today, only a dozen or so artisans in France still practice it. This technique involves meticulously selecting, splitting, and flattening rye straw before applying it to surfaces ranging from small objects and furniture to modern design pieces. There is no limit to its applications; each unique piece testifies to the beauty of this craft. A cabinetmaker by training, Manon fell in love with straw marquetry during an internship. She trained for another two years in marquetry before setting up her workshop. There, she continues to explore the boundaries of the medium through research and innovation.
The Gesture
In Manon’s profession, the gesture is essential. A particularity of her vision influences her approach to the material: she sees with both eyes, but not simultaneously, which prevents her from perceiving in 3D. This characteristic influences her way of understanding the material, which she works through the interaction of light and shadow. Her favourite gesture, and perhaps the most revealing of her craft, is that of touch. “Don’t look at your work, touch it,” she encourages, believing that true perfection lies not in the visual, but in the tactile realm – the softness, the smoothness, the exquisite finesse revealed only by touch.
The Transmission
For Manon Bouvier, transmission is a fundamental value within her workshop. Her goal is to see her students excel beyond her own achievements, undertaking increasingly ambitious and innovative projects. She believes embracing risk is crucial for the preservation and advancement of her know-how, a conviction reflected in her passionate, daily commitment to sharing her craft.
In this mutual desire for transmission, the Fondation Rémy Cointreau supported Manon Bouvier in 2021 and 2023 in the development of her workshop and the acquisition of tools necessary to welcome, train and provide a comfortable working environment for apprentices and employees.
In this new episode of “L’Artisan du Mois”, discover the work of Sylvie Deschamps, Art master, golden embroiderer and 2021 laureate of the Fondation Rémy Cointreau. Sylvie has a speciality in restoring old embroidery and joined Le Bégonia d’Or embroidery workshop in Rochefort, which she currently runs.
The Trade
Rochefort, the birthplace of gold embroidery since the 18th century, welcomed many embroiderers, particularly for the ornaments and distinctions of the ceremonial clothing of the naval arsenal. Sylvie Deschamps perpetuates this ancestral know-how and expresses herself in a variety of fields: she creates unique pieces and limited series for interior decoration, art, military, liturgical art, and various other projects. A profession that requires the mastery of many techniques and a significant creativity.
The Gesture
Le Bégonia d’or is the last and only gold-thread embroidery workshop in France, working with meticulous attention to detail. Sylvie Deschamps is particularly attached to needlepoint, the precise gesture that she performs with great responsibility for the fabric. Each stitch is carefully thought out, each movement of the needle guided by a desire to produce an artwork and a sense of responsibility towards the noble medium she is working with. Among the techniques she mastered perfectly, there is the work of the cannetille, which involves cutting and threading, one by one, the small springs varnished with gold.
The Transmission
Every year, Sylvie Deschamps welcomes trainees and apprentices to her workshop, with the aim of passing on this ancestral know-how. Her commitment earned her the title of Maître d’Art Brodeuse Fil d’Or in 2010, a distinction granted by the French Ministry of Culture to reward the excellence and transmission of a rare know-how.
In 2021, the Fondation Rémy Cointreau supported the workshop of Bégonia d’Or & Sylvie Deschamps in the acquisition of a Cornely embroidery machine to open more possibilities to needlepoint.
This twentieth episode of “L’Artisan du Mois” highlights the work of Grégoire Scalabre, ceramic sculptor and 2019 laureate of the Fondation Rémy Cointreau. Ceramicist for around thirty years, he discovered it at the school’s turning and modelling workshop, where he boarded at 10. Since then, he has continued to explore this medium with a singular approach.
The Trade
Ceramics, an age-old craft even older than glass or metal, fascinates through its endless possibilities. Grégoire Scalabre is inspired by Haussmann architecture and design to create unique works. His work is characterized by the composition of thousands of ceramic pieces, creating monumental works of art. A cross between a turner and a sculptor, his approach combines meticulousness and meditation. Constantly seeking innovation, he never hesitates to combine ceramics with other know-how, giving life to projects, enriching his inspiration and push back the limits of his art.
The Gesture
Ceramics is a craft based on ancestral techniques, handed down from generation to generation. Mastering these gestures, repeated tirelessly, is essential. Beyond the technique, it’s a real heritage, a shared knowledge, and a common passion. For Grégoire, each gesture becomes a habit, but some continue to fascinate him, such as working with brushes to remove excess slip, or the contact with the clay during kneading. His greatest pleasure certainly resides in sharing these moments in his workshop.
The Transmission
With a desire to pass on his passion, Grégoire Scalabre founded the Arts et Techniques Céramiques school in 2005. He teaches students the NVQ in turning, giving them a contemporary and full vision of this ancestral craft. He founded Scalabre Mercier Studio with Virginie Mercier in 2021, offering classes and internships in turning and modelling. They share their know-how with kindness and humour, aware of the crucial importance of transmission.
Fondation Rémy Cointreau supported Grégoire Scalabre in the acquisition of a kiln to help him develop his research.
Maxime Bellaunay is a sculptor-cabinetmaker and 2021 laureate of the Fondation Rémy Cointreau. After completing a BMA in cabinetmaking and a DMA specialising in decoration and surface treatment at Ecole Boulle, he set up his workshop at Les Ateliers de Paris. He works with stone, metal, and wood to create interior landscapes. He creates one-off pieces and limited editions for private clients and interior designers. In this new episode of Artisan of the Month, find out more about his know-how!
The trade
Cabinetmaking is a craft that has lived through the centuries. It originally involved working with ebony wood and transforming it into creative furniture. Today, the trade is constantly evolving and is no longer confined to the use of a single material.
Maxime had initially planned to create musical instruments. It was after an internship that he decided to continue his studies in cabinetmaking. Today, he works mainly with stone in his workshop, using his cabinet-making expertise in association with sculpture. This approach places him at the crossroads of two disciplines rarely associated, giving his creations an originality. By taking stone into unexpected areas, his creations invite contemplation and emotion.
The gesture
In the craftsman’s trade, between tradition and modernity, every gesture matters. Maxime travels a lot, particularly to Japan, and sees gesture as a universal language that goes beyond cultures and borders. His favourite gestures not only reveal a design in the stone, but also hollow it out and texture it. “It’s like revealing an object that is already present in the matter,” explains Maxime Bellaunay. When he works this way, he loses all sense of time, allowing himself to be guided by his tools.
The transmission
Maxime Bellaunay has been sharing his expertise since 2019 by teaching at Ecole Boulle and Ecole de Condé, where he oversees the prototyping workshop. Alongside, he takes on trainees in his workshop. Passing on his know-how is essential to him, allowing the craft to evolve and perpetuate.
The Fondation Rémy Cointreau supported Maxime’s acquisition of a set of stone-cutting tools to allow him to work the stone in his workshop.
This episode of l’Artisan du Mois is dedicated to Eve George, glass-blower and 2020 Laureate of the Fondation Rémy Cointreau. Trained as a designer, her experience of molten materials, especially glass, helped Eve George to find her path. She opened Atelier George in 2017 with her partner Laurent Fichot.
The trade
Glass-blowing is an ancestral technique, dating from the 1st century BC. The glass-blower creates glass objects using a cane. By blowing into the cane and turning it, the craftsman creates shapes. This material never forgets the slightest shock, and as the saying goes, hot glass has a great shape memory. “To be a glass-blower is to use your breath and, above all, your gestures to shape a material that is constantly in motion,” reveals Eve George.
The gesture
Master glass-makers perform a veritable ballet to give shape to the glass through specific gestures. For Eve George, an inheritor of this age-old know-how, it’s more generally about feeling her body in union and in movement with the material. It’s about learning a dance, movements and gestures that don’t exist until they become intuitive.
The transmission
In December 2023, UNESCO inscribed the gestures and know-how of the glass-maker masters as part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This designation is essential to ensure the transmission of these traditional crafts. The idea of passing on is very important to the craftswoman. When she invites apprentices into her workshop, she establishes a relationship based on sharing and exchange. Each apprentice has her or his own cultural and technical background, creating a multi-generational dialogue.
Transmission, at the heart of the Fondation Rémy Cointreau‘s mission, led her to support Eve George in acquiring diamond tools for finishing (cutting, drilling, sanding, cold glass polishing), cutting wheels to equip a router and a saw blade.
Wilfrid Jolly is a goldsmith and a coppersmith, and one of the 2018 laureates of the Fondation Rémy Cointreau. After a training in applied arts, he has completed his apprenticeship with the goldsmith and Master of Art Roland Daraspe. In his workshop, Wilfrid Jolly develops projects on his own, or as part of a team to create art pieces with several crafts techniques. He stands out for his adaptability and his use of non-ferrous materials to create biomorphic objects. In this new Artisan of the Month! video, discover his know-how.
The craftsman
The coppersmith’s craft is an age-old know-how that combines the traditional techniques of the boilermaker, the goldsmith, and the sculptor. It consists in shaping copper sheets by hammering and flameworking. Wilfrid Jolly explores these unlimited possibilities of creation by blending/fusing materials such as wood, bone, and horn, reflecting his creative and unique approach to this craft.
The gesture
The precise gesture of hammering is crucial in this profession. Anyone can lift a hammer and strike. But mastering the precision, the intensity and the sound of that strike takes years of practice. Materials such as copper, zinc, pewter, iron, and brass are revealed through the coppersmith’s gestures and expertise.
The transmission
Passing on the know-how is crucial to guarantee the future of artistic crafts, above all when they are vulnerable. For the goldsmith and silversmith, working alongside an apprentice means seeing his practice with fresh eyes and thinking outside the box. The repetition of gestures and their frequency are the pillars of this process. Passing on skills is a two-way street and is a way to maintain the traditional trade over the long term and guarantee its evolution.
The Fondation Rémy Cointreau, in line with the desire to pass on and preserve know-how, has encouraged, and supported Wilfrid Jolly’s craft. It has contributed to the acquisition of a powerful hoover and a complete TIG welding system for his workshop.
Pierre Salagnac is a bronze sculptor graduated from Ecole Boulle (France). After working for renowned workshops, including Maison Charles, he sat up his own business in 2019, where he has been making jewellery and furniture pieces such as his iconic Elan tables, one of which joined the collections of the Mobilier National in 2023. Bonzaïs Sculptures, his signature, are the result of his great talent. Pierre Salagnac took an interest in these trees because, like bronze, they are shaped by the hand of men.
In this new episode of L’Artisan du Mois, you will discover the work of one of the 2020 Fondation Rémy Cointreau’s prize-winners. This poetic video is a travel into Pierre Salagnac’s know-how.
The craftsman
Craftsmanship is a family affair initiated by the eldest brother. He embarked on a career in arts and crafts, taking his entire siblings with him. Pierre Salagnac had initially decided to specialise in wood, but, instead, bronze chose him in the first year of his apprenticeship.
This material preference is an obvious choice. It is alive and sensitive because of the alloy of metals it is composed of and constrained like the bonzaï. Pierre Salagnac dives into the quest of material understanding, using all his senses to reveal the shapes.
The gesture
The bronze “savoir-faire” is not associated to a single gesture. In fact, to create bronze pieces, 3 specialties are required to master his know-how: turning, assembling, and chiselling. This combination of skills leads Pierre Salagnac to enjoy several gestures with his whole body engaged. Flameworking, chiselling, turning, he cherishes all the techniques and loves to explore other crafts to push back the bronze sculptor’s limits.
The transmission
For Pierre Salagnac, it is the craftsmen’s duty to pass on their know-how, otherwise the art trades would be in danger. Today he teaches his son how to become a bronze sculptor. With great sensitivity, he passes on his knowledge and vision without ever imposing them on him. With humility, Pierre Salagnac looks for the right words to explain his gestures he repeats over and over.
Passing on fine crafts knowledge is at the heart of the Fondation Rémy Cointreau’s mission, which is why it helped Pierre Salagnac at a decisive moment in his career.
The seat carpentry is the work of wood. It differs from other specialties related to wood (the ornamentalist, the cabinetmaker, etc.) by the techniques and the type of pieces the seat carpenter creates. More than a passion, this trade is Louis Monier’s reason of being. This article is the portrait of a craftsman devoted to his know-how whose practice is based on sharing and respect.
The craftsman
Since his six years old, Louis Monier has known that he wanted to be a carpenter. When he was 15, he began his studies at Ecole Boulle in Paris. It took him 6 years to master his trade: 4 years of fine crafts training (FMA) and 2 years of fine diploma (DMA). After an experience at Mobilier National, he has opened Atelier Monier in 2013. Ever since, he has been expressing himself through his own creations.
The trade
The seat carpentry consists in creating the wood structure of a seat. This technique know-how requires a good vision in space and an appetite for teamwork. Indeed, the seat workshop requires working with other craftsmen such as the upholsterer, the woodcarver or the gilder.
Louis Monier combines the traditional techniques, the technological tools, and the creativity to change the way everyone see the seat. This one is seen as an object of our everyday life while it is similar to a sculpture because of the line successions. Louis Monier creates seat with his artist’s soul and his mastery of drawing, one of which earned him the title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France (2019).
The gesture
Unlike other specialties related to wood, the seat carpentry removes the wood to create and shape the lines. This gesture is Louis Monier’s favorite since it is how it makes each piece alive.
The broken line is the signature of the craftsman, guaranteeing for him a successful seat. It illustrates his relationship with Nature and the respect he has for his predecessors who are the very essence of fine crafts.
The transmission
In Louis Monier’s workshop, the trainees are everywhere because of his attachment to transmission. Committed, he wishes to teach them his know-how but also his expreriences through which he passed so that they are prepared for their future professional life.
In seat carpentry, the transmission also involves the tools. The wabstring is the essential tool of the seat carpenter. But it is no longer on the market, and its disappearance would cause the extinction of the trade. With the support of the Fondation Rémy Cointreau, Louis Monier was able to create several wabstringues for himself and his trainees.
William Amor is a polyvalent artist fully involved in fine crafts. His artistic approach is revealed through his creations made with the gestures of the floral designer and the jeweller. All his works express a great sensitivity and a respectful approach of the environment that surrounds him. Through his art, he wishes to break judgments.
The trade
Called forsaken materials ennobler, William Amor magnifies the plastic material, whether rigid or fibrous, until it becomes a work of art. Fascinated by the nature, his entire creative universe is built around the creation of all kinds of flowers. He reinvents the know-how of the floral designer and brings a touch of contemporaneity with the plastic, his main material of creation.
With this material and a great poetry, he raises awareness for the respect of our life environment. The daily waste constitute his principal material of creation. They represent for him a treasure while it is so much common for others. He transforms them into precious flowers.
The technique
William Amor is self-taught. With a lot of art experimentation, he has created his own techniques and has pushed the limits of the plastic by cutting it, softening it with heat, sculpting it, placing it into a composition, a landscape. Each step of creation is a real journey because each plastic is treated differently by the craftsman.
His techniques are as varied as there are types of plastic. But pleating on plastic bags remains his favourite. This one is similar to his path as a craftsman. It was there at the beginning and its mastery required patience. Today, with this technique he realizes flower petals whose result is close to reality and whose texture is, as he says, “sometimes more sensual than the silk used for some artificial flowers”.
The handover
For William Amor, the transmission is the essence of the art crafts and their durability. It is the way to make one’s know-how exist over time. He likes to guide his trainees, whom he welcomes every year, notably through the BDMMA’s “Savoir-faire en transmission” awards.
Moreover, transmission does not only mean guiding an apprentice. It also means inclusion and he is keen to invite disabled people into his creative world and into his productions.
William Amor found in Fondation Rémy Cointreau more than just a help in acquiring tools. He found a way to develop his creativity and push his art further. Being a laureate of the Foundation is being part of a community of craftsmen facing the same issues and all committed to the defense and the enhancement of the sector.
This episode of the Artisan of the Month is dedicated to the lacemaker on cardboard, Marie-Anne Thieffry. Exceptional craftswoman, she sublimates the material by transforming it into a work of art. In this video, she tells us about her artistic adventure with cardboard.
Marie-Anne Thieffry, cardboard lace maker
This know-how is very recent, and Marie-Anne Thieffry remains a pioneer in this very particular profession. With her upcycling spirit, she reuses used cardboard to create. Some of them have traveled around the world several times. The craftswoman is part of an environmental responsibility approach and demonstrates that craftsmanship can be a solution in the world of tomorrow.
But this bias does not define the work of the craftswoman. Indeed, a real complicity takes place between the two companions and Marie-Anne Thieffry realizes each of her works with sensibility and poetry. With a deep respect for her material, she cuts it, molds it or glues it and creates sculptures but also pieces such as lamps or armchairs.
The trade
Initially an art director for more than 20 years in a communication agency, Marie-Anne Thieffry has been caught up by her desire to create with her own hands and to confront the material. At the beginning, she gets to know cardboard and experiments it. Little by little, her style appears, settles, and evolves. The craftswoman knows everything about cardboard and brings out its invisible parts such as the fluting which she is specialized in.
The technique
Her favourite part of the process is the lacework. This part of the creation gives her infinite freedom as she lets the cardboard go. As a result, it takes place on its own accord on the structure. But she does not forget the importance of the hand which also plays its role of guide to perfect this lace.
The handover
Eager to make her new profession last and evolve, Marie-Anne Thieffry attaches great importance to transmission. Indeed, it is for her a way to transmit both her upcycling approach and her know-how and techniques. Moreover, passing on is not a one-way street and the craftswoman is convinced that her trainees “make her evolve as much as she passes on her passion”.
For more than 15 years, Marie-Anne Thieffry has cut all her boxes by hand with a cutter. Fondation Rémy Cointreau helped her acquire a digital cutting machine. This help allowed her to develop her production but especially to realize more complex pieces.
