Christophe Pichon is the eighth generation of the House. After 40 years in the profession, he confirms that being a ceramist is a passion. While he intended to become a cook, life decided otherwise… Christophe explains his job.

Christophe, how long have you been practicing?

I started the profession when I was 17 years old. It will be 40 years in September 2022.

Little anecdote: I had to go to cooking school. I wanted to be a cook. My grandmother prepared Lyonnais dishes for us that I loved. I think that’s where my desire to cook came from. My parents found me a school in Castelnaudary with a master in a restaurant in Paris.

It was a little without my own knowledge that I made pottery; it was my parents who must have told me, little by little, and with kindness, that it was a shame, that I was the ^8th generation. They didn't force me at all, otherwise I would have blocked myself. They did it very cleverly and I surrendered.

How were you trained as a ceramist? Did you go to school?

There were schools at the time, but I studied life. We learn on the job, when there is a problem, we don't learn how to solve it at school.

You have to go to school, it's important, but the problems we have are life problems. So I went to the school of potters' life, with my family.

My mother made the baskets, while my father trained me in glazing and turning: with the grader. It was not an electric lathe like today, there was a wooden disc with an iron bar. I placed the plates on the small disk and rotated the disk with my foot. I told my friends: I did so many plates today that if I run, I'll go around in circles, I have one leg more muscular than the other.

Ceramist, potter, what difference(s)?

Potter and ceramist, we both work with earth and clay.

The difference lies in the fact that the potter makes utilitarian pieces (originally pots) while the ceramist can make both utilitarian pieces and decorative objects, for example. The shape doesn't matter.

The ceramist is a potter but the potter is not necessarily a ceramist.

What land do you work?

Here, we work with very pure and elastic clay. This is why we have sparkling cutlery, it is also thanks to the enamels but even more thanks to the quality of the earth. Customers tell me that we have sparkling colors and I tell them that it's thanks to the supports: the chosen earth. Our earth is so pure that it is white so the enamel stands out well.

Originally, the earth is gray, then after cooking, the biscuit is ivory.

The profession of ceramist, a passion?

After 40 years of profession, yes I can say that it is a passion. I have never in my life had any questioning or doubt about my profession. I held on in moments when no one would have held on. Everyone told me: I worked 12 hours a day and I had no salary for about 6 years.

Life is a cycle for everything, our jobs go through cycles. There are good times, then difficult times, more or less long. It's a cycle.