A history of encounters and affinity
I have always been attracted by working with materials (wood, fabric, clay,...) and ethnology (master in anthropology). The craft of a country is strongly linked to its history, its culture.
Lorsque j’ai découvert la vaisselle en bambou sur un marché de Noël, j’ai eu un « coup de foudre » ! J’ai été fascinée par ce matériau rigide mais souple à la fois, qui pouvait se transformer, par le travail de la matière, en des formes arrondies.
A partir de cet intérêt, j’ai découvert un pays, une culture, une gastronomie. J’avais trouvé un produit qui allié mon goût pour l’artisanat, à celui d’une culture dont la gastronomie m’inspire. C’est comme ça que l’aventure a commencé…
Fair trade and traditions
Le bambou est une matière vivante, qui pousse naturellement au Vietnam. En plus d’être léger, solide et isolant, le bambou est naturellement hygiénique et peu poreux. Les bols en bambou font l’objet d’un regain d’intérêt d’un point de vue écologique, notamment dans le commerce équitable. Cet objet d’art unique en son genre est fabriqué depuis des siècles.
Manufacturing
The manufacturing is handcrafted, everything is done by hand. The artisans are mostly rice farmers who, between two harvests, produce cooking utensils. Their know-how is ancestral. As a heritage in its own right, it is a real vector of preservation of traditions.
Immersed in water for several weeks, bamboo loses its cellulose and becomes rot-proof. Once dried, it is cut into strips, which are rolled up into a disc of the diameter of the final object. The disc is hammered on a template to take shape and pack the slats. Finally, a cone of bamboo strips is forced into the centre of the disc, which forms the bottom of the bowl.
Finishes
The surface is covered with resinous gum, a vegetable latex from the breadfruit tree (Artocarpus altilis) mixed with soil (sumac). The sumac is the base of the lacquer. This texture, which blackens as it dries, will serve as a support for the 5 successive layers of lacquer, applied by hand. To the very long drying time, about ten hours, it is necessary to add the sanding of the object between each coat of lacquer to obtain a perfectly smooth finish.
For the "eggshell" finish, the same latex/earth mixture is used. Then the eggshells are applied and crushed with a wooden spatula on the object. The work thus obtained will be covered with the desired colour and then sanded until the shell fragments reappear. The shells come from duck eggs - thicker than those of hens.
Unique product, variation in shape from one object to another.