My name is Julien Le Guen. I was born on November 20, 1987 in Blanc-Mesnil, near Paris. When I was 10 years old, my parents moved to Brittany and more particularly to a small village called Saint-Jean-La-Poterie in the Morbihan.
I became interested in the art of Bonsai at the age of 17, a passion I still practice today as a member of the " Auprès de mon arbre " club in Saint-Jean-La-Poterie. Later, one of my dreams would be to associate a tree with a pot of my own making.
That's why, in 2008, I joined the "La Girelle" workshop in Malansac (56220) where Thérèse Terral offers courses for all levels.
The following year, the municipality of Saint-Jean-La-Poterie decided to set up a pottery association. So it was only natural for me to join, and in September 2009, " Terre de Potiantes " was born.
The association aims to promote pottery through courses run by several instructors and a festive event accompanied by a potters' market: " La Fête des Lises".
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the trainers who helped me acquire different techniques: Thérèse Terral, Héloïse Audry, Sophie Esquénazi, Majo Depoilly and Sophie Blanchard.
These years spent in this association lead me to perfect my skills in the basic techniques of pottery: modeling, slabs, colombin, sculpture. I missed the technique of throwing and my few one-day courses were insufficient to reach an acceptable technical level.
The click
In 2016, my partner and I decided to get married in 2017. I set myself the goal of giving each of the guests (about 200) a small turned cup as a gift!
After a one-week training course at the CNIFOP, an essential training center, I set to work. The objective is reached, with the satisfaction of beautiful successful firings and in spite of the disappointments of a whole oven to throw away.
The search for enamels
At the same time, I've developed a passion for making enamels. My training in the field of chemistry and my 5-month internship in Houston (USA) in a NASA research laboratory enabled me to develop my scientific mind and my rigorous approach to the world of glazes. I meticulously study several books, in particular Daniel de Montmollin's " Pratique des émaux de grès", a bible! An indispensable book for anyone wanting to work with stoneware enamels.
The training document provided by Yvon Le Douget on his website is just as remarkable.
Raw materials and some small materials bought, I discover interesting effects. Not wanting to stop there, I decided to acquire a more substantial equipment, a furnace, in order to continue the hundreds of tests already undertaken. I hope to find many more.
I am very interested in glazes made from ashes. And incredibly, the ashes of different plants are all made up of the same elements, in different proportions, that we need to make our glazes!
The objective of this research around ashes is linked to my other passion which is Bonsai.
Thus, I wish to be able to admire one day a tree whose essence composes the 3 elements of presentation: imagine an oak tree exposed on an oak shelf, in a pot enamelled with oak ashes!
The choice of the oven
I experiment with gas firings during numerous raku firings with the "Terre de Potiantes" association. I also do a few wood firings for the Fête des Lises.
In spite of these exciting firings and probably closer to the image that we have of the potter's work around the fire, I choose the electric kiln. Why did I choose the electric kiln? The answer is not very complicated and I will not hide.
The three main reasons for this choice are:
The ease: you press the button and come back X hours later to observe the result.
Lack of time: having experienced them, gas and wood cooking are very time-consuming during the cooking process, time that I do not have enough, due to another professional activity.
Repeatability: whatever one may say, glazes from electric firings will be more faithful in their repetitions compared to gas or wood firings. This is an important element when searching for glazes.
This choice was made at the time when I was dividing my time between pottery and my job as an employee. But since the end of 2022, when I decided to devote myself fully to pottery, I plan, in addition to the electric kiln, to build a wood kiln.
The journey
We are leaving in July 2021 for a year, with my daughter Jade and my wife Nathalie, to travel around the world. One of my objectives will be to meet potters and thus be able to exchange with them, see their way of working...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOvA2aXdLJI
The beginning of the professional adventure
When we returned from our trip, I wished to resume my job and switch to part-time work in order to develop my professional pottery activity smoothly, part-time work that was refused.
For several months, years, I have always had an anxiety, a fear. I want to be able to say, when I'm on my deathbed, that my life has been successful, that my dreams have been fulfilled or, at least, that I will have done what it takes to try to live them! I don't want to waste my life enriching a boss or shareholders that I don't even know, without getting any recognition for it.
I have therefore made the firm choice to devote myself fully to pottery and I hope that one day I will be recognized for the quality of my creations. I am also hopeful that some of my creations will survive me, which will allow me to leave a modest trace in the history of mankind, but a trace nonetheless!