BERTRAND THIBAulT

“I draw parallels between woodfiring and navigation. The physical battle with fire and the navigator’s struggle with the winds of the ocean”

ertrand Thibault was born in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Dec. 30th 1971. His

childhood was greatly inspired by his father, an amateur painter. Sensibility and visuality of art played a daily part in his early life. With his fa-ther he spent many hours in the studio watch-ing. One could say that his father was the cata-lyst, which sent Bertrand down the road of art.His mother created the stability and encourage-ment needed for this exploration.

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ertrand entered the Art School in 1987 - 1990; wanting to create and express the images now

growing inside of him. Here he studied all facets of fine art and design.Diploma in hand, he enrolled at ENSAAMA - Olivier de Serres (national school) in Paris 1990 - 1992. Here he studied under Guy Muscullus, who introduced him to woodfiring. He left with his BTS certificate (qualification in superior technique and design in ceramics) and a fas-cination for wood firing.

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or the next year he worked for L’Oréal, in or-der to study and produce prototype-designs

for their products. The brands included Hermès, Lancôme, Garnier and Helena Rubinstein. Here he worked with materials such as plexiglas, aluminium and brass. After L’Oréal he decided to start up on his own in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, southwest France. In 3 years he taught himself the skills and techniques of the potter’s wheel. He then started turning out works of vases, urns and jugs etc., using an electric oven.

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A 2011 commission by CAP e TOT, restaurant recommended by the Michelin guide in Morlanne.

erve Billard, an established potter, offered Bertrand the use of his woodfiring kiln called “La Baleine”, a Japanese Anagma of 9m3.

Now he could start producing bigger works such as sculptures.In 1996 Bertrand married Fabienne and together they bought a house with an studio in Morlanne - staying in The Pyrénées Atlantiques. The small her-itage village has another attraction : Le chateâu Morlanne, which dates back to the 14th century. This brings in a lot of tourists, especially in sum-mer. Here they found the perfect setting for the production and sale of his pieces of art.

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He began yearning for his very own woodfiring kiln and started the construction in 2001. In 2004, and 2 daugh-ters later, the kiln stood finished. It’s in use 4-5 times a year, and so far it has been in use 32 times.

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