I work with clay, primarily stoneware. I sculpt from the mass, using my fingers and fists, captivated by this space mysteriously situated between abstract and figurative worlds, captivated by their reciprocal porosity — a space where the truth of not-knowing and all the verbs of silence would undoubtedly reside…

The more I escape into it, the more the fruit of this inner journey seems to draw me closer, through successive mirages, toward an essence that would not be entirely us, yet from which we would derive — dare we call it Love ?, at the exact point of junction where shadow and light, perhaps, separate and rejoin.

Draped in their mineral timelessness, my pieces envision themselves projected into a time before speech, bearing within them seeds that only a glance, a touch, can still blossom again. They stand at the threshold of the mystery of what preceded us, of what flows through us and of what will outlast us. At the threshold of life, in short.

PROCESS

After an initial partial drying, my pieces are cut into several sections to be hollowed out. The pieces are then reassembled and reattached with clay.
The final drying phase passed (several weeks), at least two firings are required (first at 980°C to solidify the clay, then at 1240/1320°C for the glazes). These firings take place in my Phoenix-type wood-fired kiln, each lasting between 18 and 26 hours, during which time I continuously feed the kiln with wood until the desired temperature is reached.

Most of my pieces undergo multiple glaze firings, a process spanning several months (between firings, the wood supply must be replenished, cut, and stored; furthermore, I cannot fire during the intense heat of summer due to fire risks, just as I avoid freezing winter periods for the initial firing of raw pieces).

I prepare every glaze recipe myself, combining various powdered minerals (feldspar, silica, kaolin, lime, dolomite, etc.), sometimes adding metal oxides for color (cobalt, iron, or copper oxides, etc.), and a specific amount of water. These glazes are sieved twice before application to ensure the finest possible particle size and to promote optimal fusion of the constituent minerals during firing. The final finish (matte, satin, glossy, etc.) depends on numerous factors, including the recipe, glaze thickness, the underlying clay body, the temperature ramp-up, the soaking time at peak temperature, the cooling rate, the piece’s position in the kiln relative to others, the kiln type, and the reduction phases, among others.

The interplay of these multiple glaze firings reveals—much like layers of translucent glaze—a dynamic of transparency and contrast that seems to narrate the ineffable: moments fused together through the prism of fire. This process unfolds as a long, slow journey where « failures » often transform into windows opening onto new avenues of experimentation, ultimately shifting the focus from technical mastery to the play of flames and the beauty of the unknown.