Sylvie Duriez

Sylvie lives in the little town of Pertuis (which, when pronounced in French, reminds me of the sound a little bird makes), about 10 minutes north of Aix-En-Provence.  And what a beautiful 10 minutes... rolling green hills, rivers, and fields of yellow flowers (I have to find out what they are).  This is the Luberon, made famous by Peter Moyer's A Year in Provence, and I'm definitely going back for more today!

Sylvie and I met 3 years ago at a pottery market in Marseille.  I quickly fell in love with her work and have been hounding her for more ever since.  She told me I was the most persistent American she had come across.  Sylvie is an artist and not a business person... she does not want to worry about packing, shipping, or accepting credit cards and thus has refused to work with most people who have contacted her from afar.  Apparently, I'm the only one who took her refusal as an invitation to book a ticket and visit her in person. 

Sylvie lives upstairs from her workshop and small showroom.  It's not a lot of space, but she doesn't need much in that she's the sole member of this operation.  She throws each bowl, plate, and pitcher herself, fires them in her small kiln, and then graces each one with an original design.

First Sylvie dips the piece in a base glaze (her's has a yellow/greenish tint to it) and let's that dry.  She then uses a sharp needle to sketch her drawing on the piece.  She insists that she does not create a plan on paper first, nor does she copy a picture... she literally just goes to work with a needle, carving a very fine line through the base glaze.  Then she uses mineral-based colored glazes to create a soft, touchable watercolor effect.

I just could not get over the charm and personality imbued in each original design.  And as you can imagine, this led me to buy a lot!  I felt a connection with each piece and often thought of specific people that they reminded me of.  So I went a little crazy... I think she was sincerely excited for the business, although she did mention that she was going to have a lot of work to do now that I was taking away so many of her pieces!  I'm thrilled to add Sylvie's work to the Emilia Ceramics collection and can't wait to share it with all of you.