Plaster casts with various patterns overlap on the walls of the workshop. Arabesques, acanthus leaves, shells… A whole repertoire. “ They are imprints, like so many shape memories”indicates François Gilles. On the shelf overlooking the workbench, gouges are lined up in tight rows, some straight, others angled or concave: “It is the essential tool of the wood sculptor”continues the young man enthusiastically. He walks his talk and demonstrates with a piece of wood left on the workbench.
François Gilles at work, with one of his gouges. The instrument is “the essential tool of the wood carver”.
Palace of Versailles/T. Garnier
A carved wooden panel, hanging nearby, catches the eye: “My diploma work from the Boulle school, indicates the ornamental sculptor with, in his voice, a touch of pride mixed with modesty. I copied a section of woodwork kept at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris. It dates from the 18the century. It was sculpted by Jean Siméon Rousseau de la Rottière (1747-1820). I investigated the archives to find out more. And I found out that he was only 23 years old when he made it. What virtuosity! Thanks to a letter exchanged with his brother, I learned that a year later, he obtained the title of master sculptor. »
Graduated from the Boulle school and the ENS de Cachan
François Gilles is not far from equaling his distant predecessor. Born in 1995, he was just 20 years old when he obtained his ornamental sculptor diploma from the Boulle school in 2015. Art history fascinates him. He enrolled at the Sorbonne. “I was a little dreading the face-to-face meeting in the workshop with the piece of furniture to be restored! he admits. And then, copying without knowing the context makes no sense…” At the same time, François Gilles passed the entrance exam to the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Cachan. [aujourd’hui ENS Paris-Saclay]Applied Arts section. It aims for aggregation “to be able to teach”. He knows the importance of transmission in the arts and remembers with gratitude the teachers who trained him. For a time, he led two parallel lives. During the day, he goes to school. In the evening, in front of his workbench.
He is a young man in a hurry, who skips the steps. With an ornamental sculptor from the Boulle school, like him, but a little older, he responded to a call for tenders from the Palace of Versailles, launched in 2019 as part of the restoration of the Dauphin's apartment. They are the youngest of the candidates. Surprise: they are chosen! Their mission: to reconstitute the six piers of the large cabinet. “We had no material remains, except, perhaps, traces on the floor. We referred to quotes. Exhumed from the archives, they described the details of the ornaments, but without any drawing. »
At Versailles, he “restored” the trumeau of the Dauphin’s bedroom
The two young people carefully study the trumeau of the Dauphin's room. He was preserved. It is the same sculptor who created it, the renowned Jacques Verberkt (1704-1771). They are also inspired by the decoration of piers inherited from the 18th century.e century, and preserved at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris. Delivered in 2022, their work is praised by all. The two ornamentalists soon repeated the adventure. Still for the Palace of Versailles, they participated in the reconstruction of the canopy over Louis XVI's bed. It will be unveiled to the public during the inauguration of the sovereign's state chamber, scheduled for 2025.
One of the six trumeaux of the Dauphin's grand cabinet, at the Palace of Versailles. François Gilles reconstructed them with Charles Boulnois, who, like him, came from the Boulle school, “having no material remains”.
Palace of Versailles/T. Garnier
François Gilles remembers that he was seriously lacking in space when he was working on the reconstruction of the piers of the Dauphin's large cabinet. “A Parisian workshop, even in the inner suburbs, is necessarily narrow! » For the imperial bed of Louis XVI, he worked more comfortably. In the meantime, he moved to Saint-Julien-du-Sault, near Sens, in Yonne. His workshop faces the beautiful Saint-Pierre collegiate church. The beating of its bells punctuates its day.
Plaster bas-reliefs for a hotel in Paris
François Gilles is not only skilled at restoring old settings. He also knows how to design ornaments intended to integrate contemporary places. At the request of interior designer Fabrizio Casiraghi, he created a series of plaster bas-reliefs. Subtly patinated, they decorate the rooms of the Hôtel des Grands Voyageurs, inaugurated in 2023, in Paris, halfway between Saint-Germain-des-Prés and Montparnasse. “I followed Fabrizio's instructions, taking inspiration from the statuary of Antoine Bourdelle, whose workshop, now a museum, is next to the hotel. I drew the project, before modeling it in the earth, then casting it in plaster. »
For Fabrizio Casiraghi, he also imagined emblazoned medallions. Also cast in plaster, they punctuate the woodwork of the Sant Ambroeus restaurant, in Milan, Italy, which also saw the light of day in 2023. Still for the same architect, he fashioned a large plaster cast. He stands guard behind the counter of the private club The Wilde, which opened its doors last November in the Lombardy metropolis. “The theme to be illustrated was that of dance. I sketched moving bodies on paper. »
Sketch of the bas-relief designed for The Wilde club. Each project begins with a drawing, a passion of the sculptor since childhood.
Palace of Versailles/T. Garnier
Drawing is a necessary starting point. It has been François Gilles’ passion since early childhood. At the age of 8, he was fascinated by the portraits hanging in the speech therapist's office. Recognizing his talent, the practitioner began to teach him the basics of drawing between two sessions. Later, around the age of 13-14, François Gilles dreamed of sculpture. “It’s drawing in space”he insists. On the advice of a college teacher, he applied to the Boulle school to follow high school classes. “The sector is little known. You can enter Boulle from the second. Of course, you have to pass the baccalaureate as a free candidate, but what a joy to be able to draw every day! »
Plaster bas-relief adorning The Wilde private club in Milan. A contemporary piece designed for interior designer Fabrizio Casiraghi.
Giulio Ghirardi
He passed his baccalaureate with flying colors and continued two additional years of study in Boulle. “After leaving school, to familiarize myself with the casting technique, I worked in the summer at the Atelier Lorenzi in Paris, the only one to perpetuate the tradition of statuary castings. Taking fingerprints, printing, and patina no longer hold any secrets for me! » he laughs. The plasters which litter the shelves of the workshop bear witness to this know-how: “It’s my gypsum library!” » François Gilles grabs a cast: “A failed casting!” I kept it as a souvenir of my first collaboration with Fabrizio Casiraghi. » Its pendant, covered with a pretty patina, has adorned the staircase of the Hôtel La Ponche in Saint-Tropez since 2021.
His workshop. The walls are full of plaster casts with various patterns: “It’s my plaster library!” » jokes the ornamentalist.
Quentin Houdas for Challenges
François Gilles, who has not yet reached his thirtieth year, is preparing a thesis. Its subject is closely linked to the collections of 17th century woodwork.e and 18e centuries, brought together at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris. He is on site every Thursday. Moreover, he is co-curator of the exhibition which, next spring, will be devoted to the drawings of Nicolas Pineau (1684-1754), the inventor of the French rocaille style. François Gilles has only one regret: the lack of time which prevents him from drawing for his own pleasure.
