The Atelier élément-terre

The Atelier Élément-Terre is located in France, in a hamlet in Gâtine in the heart of hilly countryside in the Poitou-Charentes (now called New Aquitaine) a few miles from the Marais Poitevin.

To describe it

The workshop is adjoined to my house, wide and bright, it overlooks the nature by means of a glass-fronted façade.
In the winter, I warm it up with a wood-stove ; in the summer, I open the doors.

Inside, there is an area dedicated to creation :
a big kiln to fire sculptures and other productions, and a small kiln for the beads and buttons, and
an electric wheel

– my first wheel was a big oak potter’s wheel, with a reinforced concrete wheel, very beautiful but not very convenient ; it is now outside, I use it sometimes in the summer.
Simple tables and a cheerful mess of different products, such as kaolin and silica, several feldspaths, bone ash and dolomite, calcium carbonate, metal oxides, a few dyes… essential in a ceramic workshop.

An other area is dedicated to exhibiting : tables and shelves, and big drawers to store the beads and the buttons.

How to visit the workshop?

You can visit the workshop, which is located at 16 miles north of Niort, between  Champdeniers and Secondigny, in the municipality of Les Groseillers, 79220.

Some signs show you the way.

It is open to the public and free, but you should me contacter to be sure to find me!