Trailer: Paris Transformations

05/24/23 • 4 min

See pictures and read more on materiallyspeaking.com

This spring Mike Axinn and I went to Paris to see how artisans are able to practise their craft in a vibrant, urban setting. We wanted to discover more about the relevance of traditional skills in a world of 21st century technologies.

First we met Sylvain Maenhout who gave up a conventional career and moved his family out of central Paris to devote his life to making kitchen knives.

Release date: 26 May 2023

We also spoke with Judith Kraft who left America to establish herself in Paris as a Luthier, making viola da gambas. She tells of her process - from choosing the wood in the Jura to passing the instrument to its new owner and hearing it play in their hands.

Release date: Summer 2023

Then we visited Steaven Richard, whose passion for horses took him around the world as a blacksmith, discovering architecture that inspired his fine artistic metalwork. As demand for his work grew he moved to a larger facility where his team of blacksmiths and metalworkers combine traditional skills with new technology.

Release date: Summer 2023

Finally we met Xavier Montoy who grew up in a family of doctors and was always keen on biology. When he chose an artistic route he focussed on endangered insects to highlight their importance in the eco-system. He tells how his passion for insects led him to create jewellery with the Sternocera beetle.

Release date: Summer 2023

All of these artisans told us tales of transformation and spoke of sourcing and creating from their chosen materials with passion and purpose.

See pictures and read more on materiallyspeaking.com

First we met Sylvain Maenhout who gave up a conventional career and moved his family out of central Paris to devote his life to making kitchen knives.

Release date: 26 May 2023

Release date: Summer 2023

All of these artisans told us tales of transformation and spoke of sourcing and creating from their chosen materials with passion and purpose.

Previous Episode

Ron Mehlman: An artist of many parts

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Ron Mehlman grew up in Brooklyn and came to Pietrasanta in the 1980s. No materials are off limits in his quest for creating sculpture infused with spirit and life.

As we settle down to talk by his warm log-burning stove, Ron describes the two walls of his studio with their alphabet of colourful abstract sculptures – created from stone, wood and bronze – each one perched on its own individual shelf. The project started as a way of making thin sketches out of the stones available in the area.

Ron talks about his family from the Ukraine, his neighbourhood and his upbringing in New York. He tells of his student days, his teaching work and how he originally came to Pietrasanta with Janice, a photographer and now his wife.

One piece which Ron discusses is an abstract metal piece called Drawing in Space. It reflects his upbringing in New York where he salvaged scrap to use in his art. This three dimensional piece is created from parts of tools used to copy a marble sculpture, as well as an old bicycle seat.

He also spoke about a work created from a stone which he fell in love with and reminded him of an intricate, Chinese drawing of a landscape. He bought the broken stone, put it together and carved a landscape in front and behind it.

Many of Ron’s sculptures play with light, and he works with the stone to reveal the geological formations and their intrinsic natural beauty.

Ron shares his home on the edge of town with his wife the photographer Janice Mehlman – instagram.com/janicemehlman. It’s a pretty house on the hillside, with neat rows of vines below it and a stone studio with high glass windows set in the garden. The studio is surrounded by sculptures and stacks of stone waiting to be worked.

ronmehlman.org

instagram.com/ronmehlman

Next Episode

Sylvain Maenhout: Paris - Forging a new life

See pictures and read more on materiallyspeaking.com

Sylvain always loved cooking and when he discovered a passion for working with metal and wood he trained so he could create kitchen knives for chefs.

Mike Axinn and I travelled to Paris to meet four artisans. In the first of our series we talk with Sylvain Maenhout who took the decision to retrain as an artisan in his late 30s. Becoming an artisan has given him the ability to work from home and have a more balanced, family-centred life.

Finding workspace in Paris has become increasingly expensive and, as in most cities, there are restrictions on noise and dust. So Sylvain Maenhout made the move to an eastern suburb, 10 kilometres out of town in Nogent sur Marne.

We chatted with Sylvain about his background, and how he worked in business before choosing a different path as a blacksmith making kitchen knives.

We visited Sylvain’s workshops – the first dedicated to metal work which had a 1950s rolling mill, anvil & hammer, and hydraulic press.

He tells of his passion for forging and how he loves working both with metal and with wood. He explains how he sources his materials – steel from Germany and wood from suppliers who have already seasoned it.

Then we go down to the basement workspace where he has a space for woodwork and knife assembly. In the house’s former coal room he shows us where he does the heat treatments, and sharpens the knives with Japanese wet stones.

Sylvain tells about the range of knives he creates and his experiences talking with professional chefs and private customers.

sylvain-m.fr

instagram.com/sylvain.m.coutelier