Lucile Viaud – Seaweed Glassmaker

Bretagne – 1993

Lucile Viaud is originally from Lorraine and was born into an artisan family. For her capstone project at the Boulle School she began to explore how to incorporate products from the fishing industry into her work.

In 2015, she created the Atelier Lucile Viaud, which specializes in creating glass from natural resources and local by-products.

The following year, she joined the Ateliers de Paris as a designer specializing in the development of bio-sourced materials. Then, she founded the brand Ostraco. From the object to the final work, from a palette of handcrafted glasses that has grown over the years, in collaboration with other artists, her Atelier offers collections for the home in addition to exceptional pieces tailored for professionals.

Research and innovation

Lucile Viaud is convinced of the importance of multidisciplinary craftmanship. Therefore, she emphasizes on combining research, design and art into her approach by managing to transform marine products into sustainable materials: glazed glass, opal marine glass, sea plaster, abyssal marine glass, and the Rouergue glass.

She explores the aesthetic and technical qualities of these materials to create her Ostraco lines. At the same time, Lucile is an artist-researcher based at the Glass & Ceramics Laboratory of the Institute of Chemical Sciences in Rennes.

2018 – “Observeur du design” prize for her hand-blown marine glass collection. “Design Talent Emerging” prize at Grands Prix de la Création des Ateliers de Paris.

Will to transmit 

Lucile maintains a logical valorization of craftmanship skills, heritage and natural resources. As she creates her own materials, she has acquired an expertise working with them. That allows her to exchange and share her knowledge – both historical, scientific and technical – with regional actors, in conferences. This asset enables her to transmit the glass working in all it’s forms.

Lucile Viaud and the foundation

Fondation Rémy Cointreau helped Lucile Viaud twice. The first project was about the development of innovating products through the acquisition of equipments and raw materials (local coproducts) and the funding of the melting and grinding process. The second project was about her research about glass from Îles du Ponant in France. More specifically, Fondation Rémy Cointreau supports Lucile Viaud in the creation and the realization of an environmentally responsible oven.