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Valérie COLAS DES FRANCS
Straw marquetry
Lison de CAUNES Craft National Living Treasures former Student
Marquetry consists of veneering an element with an edge-to-edge gluing. It has been done with straw since the seventeenth century. The straw is split with the nail, crushed with a wooden folding tool, then Glued. The substrate must be stable, metal, wood, paper, leather, stone
Straw marquetry is found in several environment : furniture, object, the interior decoration (wall ) , in jewelry and sewing .
Straw has a natural silica polish, which makes it particularly relevant regarding its light, resistance and impermeability.
After 15 years as a restorer, I have experienced the qualities of straw and I have been trying to make all of its nuances and ambiguities felt
through my work.
As a material it is of course relevant because of its luminosity, simplicity and adaptability, but also because of its contemporary aspect
as a clean and organic material. Straw evokes the paradox of time. Despite its "rusticity", it can be very modern or even Contemporary.
Motion has been a central topic of my work and I like giving personality to the material with clean-lined creations.
Straw fits other materials such as wrought iron, ivory, zinc or stone. I have also just finished a four-handed work with a seamstress; we have
created a corsage made of embossed straw scales glued on fabric and sewn one by one.
