MEET THE ARTIST
FLORENCE FARGE - LES MAINS SUR TERRE STUDIO
" Creating with porcelain is reweaving a subtle thread between the hand and the earth, between the object and nature, between the human and the living world. "
FLORENCE FARGE
HANDS-ON CLAY WORKSHOP
Ceramic artist, Claix (38)
Between graphic design and matter, image and the living, this artist has chosen to reconnect with the essential. A former art director, she made a decisive career shift to dedicate herself to porcelain, a material she explores with delicacy and instinct. In her studio nestled in the heart of an old village, she shapes unique pieces that blend memory, botanical imprints, and visual poetry. Winner of the 2024 Alpes ISHERE prize in the Fine Crafts category, she opens the doors to her world, which is deeply rooted in a connection to the living.
Tell us your story, how did you find your calling?
A graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts in Saint-Étienne, I have been working as a graphic designer and art director for about twenty years. I miss physical materials. I am in search of meaning.
My ancestors cultivated the land. In turn, I have sprouted and modeled this purpose around ceramics. Porcelain has become a necessity. I am now initiating a radical change to train and finally experience working with clay.
In September 2018, Daniel de Montmollin authorized me to use the title of his book as the name of my studio.
I opened the studio in October 2019, following a call for projects launched by my city.
Image transfer truly creates a link with my previous professional life. I create visuals on a living medium: porcelain.
Winner of the 2024 Alpes ISHERE award, Fine Crafts category
How would you describe your style and your artistic approach?
Since 2019, I have been creating unique pieces — lighting, decorative objects, jewelry, and tableware — where porcelain meets singular prints. My work is distinguished by a strong visual signature, blending finesse with image transfers.
What themes or subjects inspire you the most in your work?
CREATING WITH THE LIVING
Biophilia refers to that innate, almost instinctive bond that connects us to the living world. An attachment so fundamental that our balance depends on it. A love so deep that it becomes a void when stifled. There is the obviousness of the body. We know.
From the Greek bio, life, and philia, love.
I live and work in the foothills of the Vercors.
Nature is a way of life, a presence, a breath, a silent force that accompanies me, day after day.
Creating with porcelain means re-weaving a discreet thread between the hand and the earth, between the object and nature, between the human and the living.
This memory guides every gesture. My image transfers—derived from my photos or vintage illustrations—extend this dialogue. A branch, a plant fragment, combined with an animal element, seaweed, a bird… come to settle on the raw clay. As if I were inviting the outdoors, nature, to anchor itself upon my creations, forever.
How do you work?
I work a lot on instinct: I dream up my pieces, I live them.
Do you have a specific technique, a particular area of expertise?
I explore the living material that is porcelain through delicate forms often conceived as decorative elements.
For my decorations, I use the image transfer technique. I apply one or more visuals, like a decal, onto raw porcelain.
This process allows me to create a complex, dreamlike world that is uniquely my own. I work from my own photos that I take and/or very old illustrations. I rework them extensively before finding the decoration that resonates with me.
Tell us about your daily life, your constraints, your joys, your successes…
I love the presence of porcelain, its integrity, its such powerful presence.
In daily life, it teaches perseverance and patience, through its demands and its deformations during firing.
A sensitive and delicate companion, I explore its fineness through unique pieces or mini-series, in the form of collections.
I am happy to keep expanding them.
A message to convey, anything else you would like to share?
I want to allow those who touch my pieces to feel, even subconsciously, this closeness to the living world.
Fragile in appearance, porcelain carries within it the memory of earth, fire, water, and air. It is, in its own way, a fragment of the world.
And perhaps, when we lay our eyes upon it, something within us remembers the light through the leaves, the song of the birds, or the silence and verdant beauty of the undergrowth, where a stone becomes moss, and that deep necessity: to remain connected to the living.
