1. WHO WE ARE
1.1. THE ARTIST
Christiane Perrochon, acclaimed ceramic artist, was born in Geneva Switzerland in 1942, where she completed her studies at the École des Beaux Arts and the École des Arts Décoratifs, receiving her diploma in ceramics in 1962.
Thirty years ago she moved to Italy, where she has since lived in a small hamlet bearing the name of Castiglion Alberti, situated in the heart of the Tuscan countryside on a hilltop surrounded by woods of oak trees and groves of centuries-old olive trees.
Her laboratory occupies the entire ground floor of what was once a medieval rectory and which today is her home, with the adjacent chapel having recently been transformed into a spacious showroom for her creations.
1.2. THE ATELIER
Christiane Perrochon's Atelier produces ceramics both in stoneware and porcelain fired at high temperatures and covered with captivating precious glazes, the fruit of many years of personally conducted research.
Her know how and the exquisite quality of her creations have led the Atelier to world-wide recognition in the market of luxury table settings. Her pieces are now sold in stores of the world capitals of Paris, London, New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong, cities where she also regularly shows her new works.
1.3. MARKET EXPOSURE
In 1995, a personal exhibit at the Galerie Joyce, located in the Palais Royal in Paris, gave Christiane Perrochon's artistic career new impetus, providing her the opportunity to effectively display her works in an exclusive location particularly suitable for meeting new clients. A series of important personal exhibits followed in major cities throughout Europe, England, Japan and the US, affirming her position as a world-renowned ceramic artist:
1. In France: Galerie Joyce (Paris); Galerie Kita (Lilles); Joelle Sultan Marouani (Paris); Christophe Delcourt (Paris).
2. In Italy: Spazio Sette (Rome); San Carlo dal 1973 (Turin).
3. In Tokyo, Japan: Gallery Shun; Gallery What’s O2; Wakizaka; and at Mitsukoshi, Isetan and Takashimaya department stores.
4. In London, England: Gallery EGG; Rebecca Willer.
5. In Switzerland: Galerie Jonas (Neuchâtel); Tokonoma (Geneva); Galleria Irene Weiss (Tremona, TI).
6. In the USA: Elements (Chicago); Gen Gallery, Ochre and Takashimaya (New York).
Her reputation gradually spread throughout the field of professional decorating and interior design, eventually leading to more general recognition in the commercial sector.
She has created tableware and decorative items for some of the top names in fashion design including: Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Prada, Donna Karan and Calvin Klein; and has designed decorative collections for renowned interior architects such as Peter Marino in New York, Christian Liaigre and Christophe Delcourt in Paris.
1.4. QUALITY STANDARDS
Even after establishing her name in the field of luxury items, the production methods employed by Christiane Perrochon's Atelier have remained the same: objects are entirely made by hand and treated one by one throughout the various stages of manufacturing.
This particular type of manufacturing has considerable production costs, especially due to the employment of high quality raw materials and specialized artisans, who, in the case of Christiane Perrochon's Atelier, are trained in the laboratory by the artist herself.
Christiane Perrochon’s atelier still maintains THE atmosphere of a small artisan laboratory where no more than five selected assistants work together with the artist and her husband.
2. OUR COLLECTIONS
2.1. FREE FORMS
Ceramics of the “Free Forms” collection are entirely shaped by hand. The clay is first worked to obtain a relatively thin sheet; this is then applied to moulds, also made in the atelier, or is used to hand-construct pieces such as large square, rectangular or oval dishes. The “Free Forms” can be produced in either porcelain or stoneware, or, for some colors, in the “X” material (a mixture of stoneware and porcelain). These freer and more anomalous ceramic forms distinguish themselves by being more irregular, even with respect to a ceramic thrown on the potter’s wheel.
2.2. THROWN ON THE POTTER’S WHEEL
The ceramics thrown on the potter’s wheel are very versatile objects with more regular and roundish shapes. They can be produced, up to a certain size (around 40 cm/16 inches), in the three materials we offer (stoneware, porcelain and Mix); however, for very large pieces, we suggest choosing stoneware, since it better maintains its shape during the final glaze firing. Please note that the thrown objects can be combined with all of our vast range of colors.
2.3. “SHELL” PORCELAINS
The extra-fine “Shell” objects are produced only in porcelain, using the same technique as the “Free Forms” collection. However, in the working phase they are much thinner and more delicate, but after the glaze firing assume a surprising strength and transparency similar to ancient Chinese porcelain.
The “Shell” collection is normally glazed only on the inside, using a series of transparent glazes, in order to maintain a delicate, but fully vitrified, bisque surface on the outside. Despite their delicate appearance, these objects are perfect for being used as luxury table settings and are available in fresh polychromatic hues.
2.4. TABLE TOPS: THE PRODUCTION OF CERAMIC TABLE AND COUNTER TOPS
For many years, Christiane Perrochon has been producing a collection of table and counter tops in very-high quality ceramic that can be used both indoors and outdoors. These large tops, fired at high temperature, are covered with a selection of matte glazes of the artist’s creation, and can be produced in the sizes offered in the catalogue or made-to-measure. Christiane’s ceramic tops can be used for tables and desks, and for kitchen and bathroom counters, as well as for surfaces of small and large sizes.
Christophe Delcourt, French designer of international fame, has chosen Christiane Perrochon’s tops to create a collection of tables and desks, combining her ceramic tops with supporting structures of wood or steel.
2.5. PARTNERSHIP PROJECTS
Since 2002, Christiane Perrochon has worked as designer and consultant on a project for Nic-design, creating an innovative line of bath furnishings and accessories that stand apart for their particular forms and colors. Her special knowledge of high-temperature glazes has allowed her to develop an exclusive line of colors unequalled in the industrial ceramics sector.
Design Plus
The same project received the Design Plus Prize at the Frankfurt ISH Fair in 2003.
2.6. PRODUCTION PROCEDURE
To constantly maintain the high quality of the ceramics, it is necessary not only to carefully monitor the entire manufacturing process, but also to be knowledgeable in ceramic technology.
1. In the first stage, the wet clay is processed in a machine used to eliminate any remaining air inside the clay mass; this procedure is fundamental for preventing the formation of air bubbles in the body during the glaze firing.
2. Next, the clay is hand-shaped on the potter’s weel for the collection “Thrown”, or molded by hand for the collection “Free Forms”, by pressing a sheet of clay onto moulds made in the same laboratory. The form obtained must then be left to rest for roughly 2-3 hours (24 hours in the case of thrown objects); this is necessary for the form to stabilize, so that during the finishing stage it can be handled without disfiguring it.
3. The ceramics are then finished by hand and left to dry in order for the form to strengthen and free itself of any remaining humidity.
4. At this point, the forms are ready for the first bisque firing, which takes place in electric kilns at a temperature of 980°C.
5. After this first firing, the pieces are finally ready to receive their glazes. This is carried out in two stages, first, by pouring the glaze into the object's interior, and, a day later, by pouring it onto the exterior. Each glaze is composed according to recipes perfected in the laboratory. The mixture starts out in the form of a fine powder, which is then dissolved in water in order to obtain a liquid consistency suitable for aspersion glazing. The preparation of the glazes requires careful precision, both in mixing the mineral elements and colors (which are weighed to the centigram) and in obtaining the proper density, which can determine considerable differences in the final result.
6. The last production stage involves the firing of the glaze. This second firing normally reaches temperatures of 1260°-1280°C in the electric kilns, and 1320°C in the gas kilns for oxidation or reduction firing.
In the special case of the "Shell" collection, involving extra-fine hand-shaped porcelains, the manufacturing procedure requires extra attention. In fact, this collection is realized using an extremely high quality porcelain paste obtained from the KPCL Company (Limoges) in France. The hand shaping of each object is carried out by preparing a very-thin sheet of wet porcelain that is pressed into a bisque mould of a plate, a bowl or other forms, all of which have been previously created in the laboratory on the potter's wheel.
The clay sheet is, therefore, worked by hand, delicately pressing it into the mold, subsequently leaving it to rest for about an hour. The form is then removed from the mold and finished with a semi-liquid clay applied to the seams that appeared when the sheet was pressed into the mold. The object is then left to dry.
The most delicate stage is that of the second finishing; this takes place prior to the bisque firing, when the still extremely fragile and yet to be fired object is finished using super-fine sanding paper.
The glaze is then applied to each piece using aspersion, a technique which makes it possible to obtain delicate color plays due to the different thicknesses of the overlapping glazes that specially animate each object.
3. OUR GLAZES
3.1. TECHNOLOGY AND METHODS OF THE GLAZE
Porcelain and stoneware are both fired at very high temperatures of around 1300°C.
Discipline and method are essential to research, but creative insight must freely reign. For example, in order to imagine a glaze's potential based on the results of a small sample, one must be able to predict the glaze's many possible developments and know how to technically coax it into fully expressing them.
Christiane Perrochon's incessant research in the field of ceramic technology and the chemistry of glazes has significantly deepened her knowledge of this art. Although the high temperatures required render the realization of such a vast range of colors particularly difficult, Christiane is perfectly accustomed to experimenting with all the limits and extreme possibilities the select raw materials may present. The astounding result has been the creation of a seemingly endless range of glazes. The rich hues of the glazes coupled with the essential forms of their host objects embody the great refinement that has made Christiane Perrochon's reputation.
Christiane has always used the Seger method in her glaze research. This method facilitates monitoring the balance between the acid and basic components in glazes, a fundamental factor for insuring quality and safety in the creation of ceramics used for food. In fact, all of her glazes have successfully met stringent Japanese Food Inspection standards.
Clearly only an in-depth knowledge of select raw materials can lead to the realization of a range of colors absolutely unique in their kind. The Atelier's range of glazes goes from bright and deep colors - at times glossy, but never garish - to the delicate and transparent pastels of the "Shells"; encompassing also matte, opaque and crystallized glazes.
A series of more traditional glazes have also been studied and developed, like those of the Song Chinese, including their iron blue, the celadons, the famous red "Ox Blood", the iron red, as well as the Tenmoku black and the Qing whites.
3.2. SPECIAL REACTING GLAZES
Throughout her research, Christiane Perrochon has experimented with a variety of special glazes and techniques. One of these, which we called the “Wax Painted” method, involves hot wax applied with a brush, typical of Batik, in a process of overlaying opaque or shiny colors with crystallized glazes in such a way as to create interplays of double glazes and combinations of transparencies and hues reminiscent of the art of canvas painting. In addition to the “Wax Painted” method, other types of special glazings or interventions are done with a brush, including “Overlaid 3 Stripes”, two glazes that partially overlap in the central part of the object to form three stripes of color; “Double glazes”, two glazes overlapping almost entirely on the object, reacting to each other; and, finally, the technique called “Painted”, in which the artist intervenes by painting on the raw glaze with a brush (always before the glaze firing). As a consequence, these very special objects have a higher price compared to those with a normal glaze.
3.3. COMPATIBILITY AND INCOMPATIBILITY BETWEEN A FORM AND A GLAZE
Generally, the vast range of glazes created by the artist can be combined, at will, with the “Free Forms” and “Thrown on the potter’s wheel” collections, in the three available materials of Stoneware, Porcelain and Mix (stoneware/porcelain). However, for the “Shell” collection, produced only in porcelain, the artist has thoroughly developed a special range of transparent pastel colors, in very delicate hues, that can be applied only to the object’s interior, as proposed by Christiane Perrochon (leaving the outside surface bisque, but still completely waterproof and non-porous after being fired at high temperature), or, if preferred, the outside border can also be glazed on request.
There are, nevertheless, some restrictions, due to certain “incompatibilities” between certain forms and colors, or between a certain glaze and one of the materials. With her many years of experience, Christiane Perrochon has been able to verify that some glazes systematically cause ceramic breakage during glaze firing; as a result, certain glazes may not appear as a possibility for all objects, but only for some of them; or a certain glaze may not be authorized for use with a selected object.
The artist advises using the material Mix (stoneware/porcelain) when one wishes to pair a glaze, which is normally paired with porcelain, with an object more similar to stoneware. Since the color of the material Mix is lighter than stoneware (which is grayer), the color will turn out brighter.
4. UNIQUE OBJECTS AND POSSIBLE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ONE OBJECT AND ANOTHER
Each object produced in Christiane Perrochon’s atelier is one-of-a-kind, and is essentially different from any mass-produced item found currently on the market. The artist guarantees that the objects produced in her laboratory are entirely made by hand, both in terms of their moulding or shaping, and glazing.
This means there will be slight differences between one object and another; and, accordingly, the measurements indicated in the catalogues are only approximate. At the same time, Christiane Perrochon commits herself to guaranteeing that orders of several objects with the same reference be as harmonious and as uniform as possible. Nevertheless, compared to the selected model, slight differences of weight, size, and, also, simply of appearance may occur. It is important to remember that stoneware and porcelain, originating as pliant materials, may experience light warping during firing, especially in high-temperature ceramics; and that what appears to be the most regular form in the bisque stage, may have previously undetectable warps that become accentuated during the glaze firing. This is partly due to the specific type of processing used to obtain extra-fine and light objects; on the other hand, it is also an aspect of the quality of these ceramics, which, in this way, fully reveal their vitality during the final firing.
There may also be substantial differences regarding the glaze. In the specific method of aspersion glazing chosen by Christiane, the glaze is poured onto the object, and may reveal traces of different thicknesses, drips and considerable differences in color as well, partly due, in fact, to uneven thicknesses. In the range of glazes offered by Christiane Perrochon on her website, there are various groups of “reactive glazes”. These are considered more particular, but are, at the same time, considered “special glazes”, meaning that they are more unpredictable and subject to variability than the others. The following color groups are considered “SPECIAL REACTIVE GLAZES”:
- CELADONS
- SPECIAL GLAZES
- DOUBLE GLAZING
- OVERLAID 3 STRIPES
- BICOLOURED
- WAX PAINTED
- PAINTED
- PAINTED SPECIALS
- DECORATIVE GLAZES
The reactive glazes developed by Christiane Perrochon in her laboratory are partly the result of a study of ancient Japanese and Chinese recipes (Song Dynasty), such as the iron blue, the celadons, the famous red “Ox Blood”, the iron red, as well as the Tenmoku black and Qing whites. In addition, Christiane has produced other more modern glazes, with surprising characteristics, thanks to her extensive experience in the field of high-temperature ceramics.
The glazes created in the atelier are generally extremely durable, since they are developed to cover objects of daily use, such as table settings and decorative objects. Nevertheless, some glazes, especially the reactive glazes, can be more delicate and require special attention. For example, some crystallized glazes can become spotted if they come in contact with acidic substances such as lemon juice and vinegar, however, this will be indicated on the color chart by the statement “This glaze is delicate and requires special care”.
Concerning the family of matte glazes, (their reference code beginning with “M”), even if the glaze base is extremely durable and versatile, there is the possibility that, in the long run, metal signs caused by knives and forks may appear on the plate collection, especially with the dark colors.
As a result, we have developed another glaze base, its code beginning with “K”, which is a bit more satiny and can be used as an nice alternative to the matte family for producing table settings and objects for daily use, since it is not affected by silverware.
Christiane Perrochon brings a very high level of expertise to the field of high-temperature ceramics.