Today we’d like to introduce you to Fleur Reboul.
Hi Fleur, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
As a kid, I have always loved to play in the mud. Its texture, the way it slips, how you can shape it; all of this captured my whole attention and fascinated me. After earning my Master’s degree in Art School in France and working on cinema sets as a prop maker, I moved to the US.
My enthusiasm and passion for craft pushed me to meet new people and gain interest in building things from scratch.
In St Louis, I have been able to fulfill my ever-growing interest in ceramics thanks to Intersect Art Studio.
I have taken a couple of ceramic sculpture classes there with the talented Emma Vidal. I immediately felt in love with the process and the place.
A couple of months after my first initiation to hand-built ceramic, as everyone else, I had to quarantine home. I decided to rent a pottery wheel and taught myself how to throw.
I started creating mugs, coffee cups, planters… maybe because I love my mornings real cozy and surrounded by my leafy and furry friends while sipping on my coffee.
At the moment, I keep on experiencing shapes, glazes, and hand building.
I love the freedom that ceramic creations offer. The possibilities are endless and time flies when I work in my home studio.
For example, I have recently taken a new project in which I build ceramic planters, getting inspiration from the photographic work of Hilla and Berndt Becher, a German artists couple.
Most of the time I try to circle my love and education in visual art together with my ceramic creation. Hopefully, this will generate exciting new items.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I don’t think there is any smooth road, there are always bumps somewhere on the way. But to be fair I feel that I have overall been extremely privileged.
I came to the ceramics a few of years after moving overseas, leaving all my family and friends in France.
There were certainly some tough moments, solitude, and questioning my choices.
But starting ceramics definitely helped me push forward.
I am a perfectionist and as stupid as it sounds it comes with a lot of frustration when I am working.
There are many talented artists in ceramics and the struggle to learn techniques, details, and a polished finished item while being self-taught can be quite challenging.
I have a day job at the Garden Heights Nursery where I worked with a talented and lovely team. I love this job where I learn many new things about plants every day. I am also manager at the ceramic studio at Intersect Art Center on Cherokee neighborhood and create other pieces of arts, such as HolyCats statues that you can find at IdleHands grooming Company on the Shaw. Having two jobs doesn’t allow much flexibility with my trimming, glazing, and firing processes. Some days are quite exhausting!
But my family supports me in those times so I am pretty lucky overall.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Currently, I create tableware, mostly for coffee and tea, and plates. I also make planters. As I mentioned before I think my love for cozy place surrounded by beautiful plants while sipping a coffee or a tea guided my creations so far. I experience many types of clay (reclaimed, terra cotta, porcelain) and love to play with texture and visual effects using different type of glazes.
My work takes it inspiration in photography, visual arts, and design. I have studied art exhibition design and this influences my creations. I like simple designs where textures and details come at play to create a unique object.
I really am proud of most of my ceramic pieces as I make them all unique. The beauty in ceramic comes from unexpected events during glazing, firing that oftentimes throw something you never envisioned right in front of you. I love this.
I don’t really know what sets me apart from other artists. I think we all work on something dear to our hearts. We explore sometimes in different directions, sometimes in the same. I think the important thing is to keep being excited when I get my ceramics out of the kiln, and being eager to keep them all for myself … let’s be honest I don’t have enough room for this!
What are your plans for the future?
So far, I hope that I can further develop my ceramic studio and creations. I will continue on exploring the endless potential of ceramic as much as possible.
There are a couple of markets in which I will participate in the coming months – the STL mug market, a market at the Luminary art gallery to name a few. I am excited to participate in those and meet all of the participants and attendees,
Part of my plans too is to keep giving a part of my profits to local associations such as the planned parenthood, actionSTL, the Bail Project, and MetroTransUmbrella Group. I determined in maintaining those donations to further help local StLouisians. This city warmly welcomed me when I landed here, I want to give back to the people from this city.
Contact Info:
- Email: fhar.studio@gmail.com
- Website: fharstudio.com
- Instagram: @fhar.studio
- Facebook: @fhar.studio
