Pascale Girardin’s installations can be found around the world. The Quebec ceramic artist’s lightweight, delicate blooms float mid-air at the West Edmonton Mall, her earth-hued totems make an impressive display at the Yabu Pushelberg-designed Clement Restaurant in New York and her unglazed clay strips are layered to create an undulating wall at a golf club in Dubai. Now Girardin’s work comes home with her soon-to-launch Fonte line of tableware, inspired by cast iron pans. We chatted with Girardin about her obsession with glazes, working with chefs and the merits of a good bowl.
How did this project start?
I’m always doing glaze research. I probably have more than 300 [glaze] recipes. About a year ago, I was trying to work out the perfect matte glaze, which, in ceramics, is a really tricky thing. It became a bit of an obsession for me. I started working with a very dark clay and its reaction with this matte glaze base that I was working on, and started getting really spectacular finishes. They looked like cast iron, and that was really what triggered this work. It’s just such a beautiful and rich finish.
Your installation work varies from the infinitely detailed to the simple and minimal. How did you develop the shapes for these pieces?
I wanted to create that feeling as if it were cast iron – those traditional cast iron pans have very simple shapes. I like pure forms. Bold statements, but not overbearing. [These] pieces have a strong presence, but are quiet at the same time. The black is elegant and rustic – not chopping wood rustic, [but] natural. The fact that it’s black is nice because you can match it with a lot of other dishes.
Speaking of other dishes, will there be a full table set eventually?
When I started this new collection, I thought that I’d just make a few pieces – something that speaks of my ceramic language and that is iconographic without going full out into making table settings, but maybe serving bowls and a few smaller items. I’m keeping it very simple. I hesitate to call it a collection in the sense that if somebody wanted to get a set of eight or this or that, they’d have to be very patient. It’s tricky to get the results that I want, so they’re limited edition. I can’t see myself willing to go toward doing large-scale production on this. I lose probably 30 per cent of everything I do [from ceramics being broken or damaged during the firing process].
What made you start off with a bowl?
Bowls can serve anything in them. They’re the best for desserts or meals or rice. In Medieval times, plates weren’t really something people ate out of – they ate out of very shallow bowls. This is a long-standing tradition. I just really wanted to start with something that’s essential.
Fonte officially launched at the 1001 Pots ceramic arts festival in Quebec. After that, where will these pieces be sold?
We’re now working on an online store, which is hopefully going to be ready in the fall.
Is this your first foray into tableware?
In the last few years I’ve been doing tableware, but only for top chefs: Toqué!, Les 400 Coups, Patrice Pâtissier and others in Montreal, and Jean-Georges [Vongerichten’s steakhouse] in Scottsdale, Ariz. My name has been going around in culinary circles. I get a lot of clients requesting dishware that I make for the chefs.