Les Céramiques de Lussan - Guinea Hens

Les Céramiques de Lussan is a renowned French pottery workshop located in the village of Lussan in the south of France, famous worldwide for its handcrafted and hand-painted ceramic sculptures—most notably its iconic stylized guinea fowl (pintades).

Mrs. Heidi Caillard was born in 1932 in Basel, Switzerland. At 17, she entered the Beaux-Arts School of Art, the world's most famous historic fine art institution. There, she studied fine art and ceramics for 5 years. Upon her graduation, Heidi continued her studies at the ceramic school of Lausanne (Switzerland). In 1968, she moved to France, to Blauzac, a village near Uzès in the Gard where she opened a small pottery workshop in the heart of this village. It is here Heidi met Daniel Caillard, a soldier from Garons (Nîmes) who would become her husband. In 1971 the couple would welcome their first child Adrien. That same year, they bought a ruined Mas in Lussan (this Mas had belonged for a time to the ancestors of the writer André Gide) and began the loving renovations of creating a home and studio.

In 1974, the workshop and atelier officially opened in Lussan. The very first ceramic guinea fowl, imagined by Heidi during her studies at the Arts et Métiers in Basel, was born at this time. Inspired by the real poultry in her garden, the creation of the work required many long days of preliminary sketches, construction and deconstruction to obtain the perfect shape. “Having been fascinated for more than 30 years by the originality and the elegance of the Guinea hens that run free in my garden, it finally came to me that by immortalizing them in a harmonious and timeless object, I could convey my love of the Guineas to others.”

The voluptuous bodies and slender necks of the guinea fowl contribute to this very special elegance. These stylized sculptures are hand-painted using a special technique that creates warm and unique colors. More than just decorative objects, each one is unique work of art that are now considered collector’s items around the globe.

SIZES: 

Small, Height 6 1/4″

Medium, Height 7 1/2″

Large, Height 9 1/4″