“I do things that no one does anymore” The exceptional talent of porcelain maker Nadège Mouyssinat rewarded

Winner of the Liliane Bettencourt prize for the Intelligence of the Hand for her work Console Pseudsphères, Nadège Bouyssinat brings forgotten know-how back to life in her Limoges workshop. Through her sculptures, she reinvents ancient porcelain techniques.

Slender, fluid, shiny or rough silhouettes, the sculptures of porcelain maker Nadège Mouyssinat have a resolutely contemporary look, and bring back forgotten know-how.

Coming to porcelain by chance, out of a taste for artistic practice rather than the theory taught at university, “I really wanted to make things“, Nadège still remembers her amazement when her first piece came out of the oven, fifteen years ago: “It was magical! And at the same time it wasn’t magical at all because we fantasize about this object for weeks, but it’s very laborious. You have to work on the drawing, sculpt the plaster, make the mold, pour the porcelain into the mold. All this takes a lot of time before putting the piece in the oven. And there, after several hours at 1400°C, the object reduces by 14%, changes color, becomes smooth and shiny with the transparent enamel, there is still something magical“, she says.

Trained for two years on a work-study basis at Raynaud porcelain, Nadège Mouyssinat developed a taste for excellence: “I really enjoyed working at this level of requirement, at the tightest, the smoothest, the most beautiful” she remembers. “Maison Raynaud works with the world of luxury, we developed table services for major restaurants, we really went far to make beautiful things“.

She then worked for eight years for the Bernardaud and Coquet factories. In these large houses with an international reputation, she discovered an entire heritage and reissued old pieces.

There are parts that we no longer know how to make today.

Nadège Mouyssinat

Exceptional porcelain maker

“I was interested in the history of porcelain in Limoges, and I discovered that beyond tableware, there was competition between manufacturers through the creation of monumental pieces.” she remembers Exceptional pieces, requiring techniques that have now disappeared with industrialization and mass production.

Nadège then said to herself that if she has something to contribute to the production of porcelain, it is in this field, that of experimentation, of research. Bringing forgotten gestures back to life in unique creations or in small series, born from a chain of thoughts: “Often I have a guiding idea at the start. For the series that I called Nùria, I started from the legend of this little black virgin venerated in the Basque Country. I had the idea of ​​sculptural pieces, a little sacred , a little mystical. These are pieces whose curves and roundness evoke maternal protection, they rest on three feet to symbolize the trinity. explains the designer.

It is for one of the pieces from her Pseudospheres series that Nadège Mouyssinat has just received the Liliane Bettencourt prize for the Intelligence of the Hand. “I was drawing cones at random, and a friend told me that it reminded her of pseudospheres, which are a representation of the mathematical model of infinity. she says.

A materialization of the infinite that she duplicates, assembles, reports through symmetry, like the shape and counter-form used in her manufacturing process. “Technically, I have worked out a lot of things. Wealth lies above all in mastering the production process” she describes.

I do things that no one does anymore.

Nadège Mouyssinat

Exceptional porcelain maker

Cones that can bring to mind spinning tops, stalactites or hourglasses, other representations of a form of infinity to which it gives shine, dullness or color depending on the piece. “When I worked in tableware factories, I saw that we could color, do lots of things that we no longer did, I was frustrated” she says again.

At just 40 years old, Nadège Mouyssinat will take advantage of the winnings and advice obtained thanks to this prestigious prize to develop her activity and pass on her knowledge. “In manufacturing, I saw lots of people retiring with know-how that was not passed on“, she remembers.

She has just recruited an apprentice with whom she will share, and has started to have some of her pieces made in a factory: “Little by little, I’m going to give them more and more complex things. For the moment, they don’t know how to do it, but my goal is to increase their skills to delegate my production to them” she projects.

It is without regret that she will then be able to move away from her workshop: “Physically, it’s very hard. It’s a lot of very repetitive gestures“, she admits.

She will then devote herself solely to drawing and designing the pieces ordered from her by international interior designers, her main clients.