Maison à la française

It is in the heart of one of the most enchanting villages in the Dordogne, the fortified city of Monpazier, a small medieval jewel known in particular for bringing together many artists and artisans, that you will find the pottery “La Salamandre”. Attracted by models with geometric patterns or engobed porcelain, you will cross the doors of a charming store to be immediately welcomed with warmth by a couple of artisans and lovers in life, Alexandra and Jean-François. With his luminous smile, the art of pottery and engobage will no longer have any secrets thanks to Jean-François, whose universe is more especially that of plants and hanging gardens. In the background, you will see Alexandra in her studio, passionate about shapes, structures and more particularly the art of enamel and slip. This duo of artisans, stamped Métier d'Art, Maître Artisan, Atelier d'Art, with mixed talents and inspirations, offers you a diversity of pottery in harmonious colors demonstrating know-how and creativity that can only seduce the most demanding minds.

The summer period has led our steps to meet the artisans of our terroirs whose know-how and creativity immediately appealed to us. This was the case at La Salamandre. The kindness and the welcome of Alexandra and Jean-François are no strangers to this, but even more I would say that the perfectly mastered enamel and slip work offers a wealth of creations that immediately beckons the eye and arouses the pleasure of discovery. Here we present a very brief overview of their creations but we left with an engobed cup and hanging pottery for the plants that have naturally found their place in our daily lives.

Specialists agree: the Nontron knife is the oldest knife in France. Long before the late Middle Ages, the region was famous for its sharp tools, thanks to the presence of ore for the blades, boxwood for the handles and its pure water for tempering the blades. It is said that the greatest in the world went through Nontron to get arms or knives. From generation to generation, cutlery was passed on to families, then sold in 1992 to the Laguiole forge, which will continue to maintain this know-how, certified Living Heritage, even in its region of origin. Easily identifiable thanks to its pyrography composed of “flies”, a kind of inverted V, framed by 3 points, whose origin remains mysterious, all Nontron models are today the pride of the village of Nontron. From forging to sawing, including assembly, finishing, pyrography or quality control, everything is done on site by twenty master cutters with exceptional know-how transmitted on site in the secret of forging.

Every Périgourdin who respects himself and loves his country has his Nontron knife. It is given to sons by fathers, passed on from grandfathers to grandsons. Whether it is a pocket knife or a table knife, pocket knife or kitchen knife, the Nontron knife is an elegant and practical object that testifies to a true ancestral art of living, whose traditional manufacturing methods and proposed forms have survived the ages and eras without aging a single wrinkle.

From cooking to cutlery, there is only one step: going to the other side of the handle and starting to make quality knives based on your own experience. After a diploma in cooking and then in butchery, Yann Arnoult decided to become a taillandier. This traditional art, which consists in making sharp objects, was added that of being a good cutler, which is the art of forging cutting tools. Thus, from his workshop in Mollans-sur-Ouveze, Yann has been forging old-fashioned blades with charcoal for a little over four years, almost ergonomic, in collaboration with the chef Aurélien Poirot, the second of Anne-Sophie Pic. From his hands come exceptional, aesthetic knives, thought out to the smallest detail. Kitchen knives, but also combat knives, daggers or hatches. This profession being the art of passion and transmission, his workshop is open to learn during internships to calibrate coal, light the forge, forge the preform, the tip and the edge of the knife, polish and dip the blade, polish and dip the blade, then sharpen.

The magic of social networks and especially the magic of those who, like us, are committed to defending French craftsmanship, brought to our attention this wonderful craftsman who deserves to be better known and highlighted. Responding to a call on Instagram to give him a helping hand to prevent his forge from closing, we got two knives: the Office, the traditional kitchen knife with an olive wood handle, and the Mediev, raw forge. The chef at home, and the great knife lover, is the boy. According to him, he finds them aesthetic, very pleasant in hand, of high quality and making you want to cook. The bet was therefore successful, and personally, I confirm it.

It is in Anjou, on the banks of the Loire, that Landy Rakoto decided to put his bags down in 2021 to fully devote himself to his art of glazed ceramics, in a house surrounded by greenery, and his workshop in the attic. Landy Rakoto pottery is in itself a signature, an eponymous brand by the way. It must be said that the young woman has a career that could make more than one fall in love, brilliant studies, years of musical excitement in Berlin and the discovery of pottery, a passage in London in the world of marketing, passionate about photos, musical instruments, culture, nothing can resist her. Pottery imposes itself, like a breath to give to her swirling universe, which she practices in a meditative and introspective way. A way to regain a form of spirituality through the repeated gesture, the earth, the mastery of long time and technique. An art that has been able to unite all its passions through shapes, colors, and the search for aesthetics and originality, which has not left indifferent connoisseurs in the field. An enchanting delight to discover.

I discovered it a bit by chance, very happy to discover a universe that had a recognizable, aesthetic and original creative imprint. I even contacted her, being very touched by her reactivity in responding to me and immediate kindness. It was while preparing this article that I discovered by doing more research that it was quite well recognized. Numerous articles are devoted to him in the press and some of his lamps even light up a Parisian restaurant. So I would say that my instinct in this matter did not deceive me, confirmed in this by these magnificent objects received in the process that I love. Its Donut plate or tray, its mini coffee mugs and its stemmed glass are very beautiful and very pleasant to use.

Ceramics has always been a passion. After the time of study, training, learning techniques and materials, Eloïse went for it and opened her studio in the middle of Périgord. Barely 30 years old, she immediately seduced by the particular style of her creations, which quickly found their place in restaurants, and were also noticed in several magazines. This is not surprising because in the world of pottery, many practice it but few are distinguished by a strong, original identity, which bears within it the brand and personality of their creator. Here, nature becomes material: eggshells, lace, lace, flowers, polka dots, birds are all patterns that become borders or shapes of the object. The result: creations with sinuous, rounded, curved, serrated contours, which have the charm of controlled and spontaneous imperfections.

Périgord is my country and yet, Eloïse Dubois is a recent discovery. One more crush will you tell me, it's very normal I will answer since I only speak well about what I like. In this case, I loved her creations, and I loved the personality of Eloïse Dubois, her freshness, her spontaneity, the way she speaks and shares her creative phases, her products. Humanity is important, it is necessarily reflected in one way or another in the act of creation. In short, here are my precious acquisitions: the bird sauce boat, the lace bowl, the bubble cup, the Myosotis bowl.

After an academic career in law, a foot in sculpture, and a 4th child, Alix D.Reynis returned to her first love in 2011: creating sculpted porcelain objects, directly inspired by the history of art and in particular the art of living of the 18th century. Over time, Alix D.Reynis has established itself as a reference brand, which has its own universe and identity, consistent even in the choice of logo, patterns, texts and their window. The purity of its porcelain, all white and as if carved, testifies to both its culture and its passion for history and art, while being radiated by its elegance and femininity, which make them both current and refined objects but meaningful and timeless. From the kitchen to the bathroom, from the lighting to the living room, Alix D.Reynis revisits everyday codes by infusing them with the soul and spirit of yesteryear. Trained in modeling, she sculpts plaster models, to be then cast in porcelain in Limoges, then mass-produced. She also creates jewelry that testifies to her taste for the art of yesteryear. After working from home for several years, Alix D. Reynis now has two stores in Paris and numerous points of sale. His studio is located on rue Jacob in the Marais. Purity, delicacy, demanding know-how: his creations are an invitation to beauty and poetry. In short, an art of living.

What could I have dreamed of in front of this brand. For years, room after room, Alix D. Reynis has entered my world through favorites, private sales, gifts. I fell in love as they say, with her career, with her ability to create pieces that are chic and simple at the same time, that make us become another while remaining the same: the magic, as in literature, of being here and elsewhere, transported to a period that is difficult not to love, the quintessence of the decorative lifestyle of the 18th century. We would like everything but to dream of it is already almost to own it.

A cat in my boot is in a way Proust's Madeleine from childhood with her stories, the napkin rings of family tables, the older ones that her grandfather unearthed, a youth bathed in the creativity of an artist mother and the taste for recycling. After studying art at the Hourdé workshop and a few years in business, the creative fiber caught up with her and Elodie Souillard opened her studio in Paris and then in Nogent sur Marne at the end of 2018. His passion: the brass napkin ring, entirely handmade, and in particular his flagship product, hand-hammered brass. Elodie Souillard thus became the first French artisanal pioneer brand of brass napkin rings made from A to Z, where each letter is stamped one by one. Very quickly, the first orders poured in, especially from renowned restaurants. With its 5 fonts, its 250 patterns to be engraved and its different sizes, it is the assurance of having unique objects, personalized to your image, original and handmade.

I must admit, we have lunch and dinner without napkins. It is a mystery to many but it is a reality. In other words, the napkin ring is not spontaneously an everyday object. And yet, how not to fall in love with this magnificent handcrafted work that restores the image of an object considered obsolete and which should nevertheless regain its rightful place in the age of fabric napkins. We had one engraved in the name of Svivias. It is so pretty that I could almost wear it as a bracelet.

It was in the heart of the Cévennes that Florence Girod officially established herself as a ceramic artist in 1995, using a unique technique called “mixed earth” or “marbled earth” or “snowy land”. From his hands, which combine layers of clays of different colors, come out creations that are incredibly conducive to daydreaming and contemplation, distinguished and awarded numerous times at exhibitions and fairs. Neriage is the school of patience and letting go: once assembled into large loaves, the clays are then turned, shaped, turned, sanded, baked and then enamelled before being put into the oven for cooking a second time. All the art lies in the game between the manipulation of the clay and the firing that will decide the final result. The pieces are therefore all unique, authentic, and with an incredible, if not to say fascinating, rendering.

Florence Girod's pottery is in itself an art of living. They reflect the soul and creativity of the person who designed them, and coming to our tables, they arrive loaded with this history to now integrate ours. All terrain, their elegance does not hide their usefulness and practicality. This is how salad bowls, cups and pepper/salt shakers are now objects of everyday life.

You have to read the curved lines of his plates, in the arabesques of his dishes, in the color of his enamelled mugs to detect all the generosity and passion of this artisan who is at the same time so discreet and yet so accessible. His apprenticeship in ceramics began when he was 45, a revelation that was born and established thanks to the transmission by his peers. Know-how that passes from hand to hand, where experiences are shared and encounters are created. Benoît Breymand is committed to creating tableware for the pleasures of the mouth, a visual pleasure that meets the pleasure of taste. It is therefore not surprising that his pieces are mainly sent to restaurants, in order to enhance the culinary art of the masters themselves. Art and gastronomy, generosity and pleasure, this is the source of his inspiration and what emerges from his creativity.

The magic of networks reveals hidden gems to you from time to time. Potri was one because nothing delights me more than beautiful dishes, original, elegant, modern, practical, and which at the same time makes me want to cook and prepare beautiful tables, without breaking the bank. Moreover, many of his pieces have such creative shapes that they can have multiple uses, and beautify a table as well as serve in a bathroom.