The experimental theatre for this workshop was a kitchen and workshop in the same space and time frame ; the materials flowing back and forth, be they destined for cooking or making. Cooking in this sense in ovens for food or kilns for the ceramics, or fire for glass blowing; heat being the alchemical energy in all cases. Cooking objects and making/ forming food – a borderless experience becoming extremely rich, basic, real, giving a full feeling of being alive, connected to our fruitful planet with all senses – touch, smell, sight, sound, taste – in this extremely difficult period. Recipients (small plates, bowls, pitchers, spoons, sieves and other unconventional forms in wax, glass and black clay) inspired by recipes – some local, some created by Antoine Vernouillet, chef of the Restaurant Poulpette in Cognac, some from myriad experiments led by the cultivated eye and essential know-how of Marc Bretillot in the warm and simple kitchen of the Foundation. Five extraordinary days hands-on with these materials simultaneously, glass mastered by Jean Charles Miot, black clay, wax, food.

Mathilde Bretillot