Lise Gonthier

Hot work in the mass flow

Lise Gonthier is a glassmaker. Her work is based on impressive technical mastery and a continuous search of new techniques. Indeed, she adapts the traditional technique of glass fusing by remelting self-crafted glass. In her Beaucaire-located workshop in the Gard region, Lise is relentlessly pursuing a quest: highlighting the glass matter. 

The main goal of her mural artworks, sculptures or totems is to create a relationship between poetry and the sensuality of glass. Cobalt blue, topaz, black and white, she plays with colors, shapes and volumes.

For Majuno, she devised a tray made of hot-worked glass cubes.

Why did you choose to work with glass?
Après des études aux Beaux-Arts de Besançon où j’étudiais la peinture, j’ai fait un stage de céramique chez un maître verrier à Lyon. Ça a été une révélation ! J’ai alors décidé de suivre la formation du CERFAV, le Centre Européen des Arts Verriers. J’ai ensuite eu la chance d’effectuer des stages chez Baccarat et chez Ajeto, une célèbre cristallerie en République tchèque. Les techniques classiques acquises, j’ai commencé à en imaginer de nouvelles en les détournant.

How did you approach Majuno’s project?

For this project, I again and again used light effects to plays with white, black and grey shades. I created small glass cubes as interior and exterior decorations, crafted one by one at 1140 degrees Celsius. Then, I sawed and trimmed each side, before remelting them. 

Restraints, brittleness, crafting time:

• The maximum height is 150x70 centimeters, but the piece is particularly heavy in this instance. The average size is 70 x 80 centimeters.
• The piece made for Majuno is 2,5 centimeters large. You cannot put anything hot on it because it is not made of Securit glass. 
• However, it is scratch-resistant. 
• A piece requires at least one month of work.