As early as 1300 B.C., Egyptian craftsmen were practicing woodturning. To make everyday objects, two men were needed, one to drive the lathe with a rope and the other to carve.
From then on, technical improvements were constant and aimed at freeing the turner's hands (the Roman bow, the pedal board in the Middle Ages, motorization with the industrial revolution and, today, digital assistance).
From the 15th century in Nuremberg to the present day, goldsmiths have been making ornamental pieces by turning ivory and precious woods. It is around 1970 in the USA and then from 1980 in Europe, that woodturning becomes a new form of contemporary art by freeing itself from the habits of the past.
My career is part of this trend. As soon as I finished my apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker in 1974, I wanted to test my knowledge in contact with experienced craftsmen and to get involved in various projects and creations, from Arabia to the Azores, from Africa to Paris and then to Asia. On my return, I created my own cabinetmaker workshop in Grandsivaz.
I then approached woodturning in 2000 as the opportunity I had been looking for many years to promote the indigenous tree species that had contributed to my ability to make objects, furniture, etc. My ambition was to make them the subject of my quest in order to restore their singular realities by trying to magnify their essence and to find the path that would allow me to make them resonate with the original material that constitutes us. This approach gives me happiness.
The exhibition of my work gives me the opportunity to share and explain its concretization and, by submitting it to criticism, to raise my level of requirements. It is also by choosing to teach the art of turning that I aspire to reach my goal of being a "transmitter of happiness", to encourage the desire in others to put all their senses to the listening of their environment, to observe nature as an echo of what constitutes them, to develop their knowledge and, by acquiring the mastery of the tool, in turn to express the essence of this relationship.
