The materials, and a wire borrowed from bonsai
A piece holds together by what you cannot see.
You notice the beads first. They are what you touch, what you turn towards the light. But a beaded sculpture does not hold together by its beads: it holds together by its wire.
I work with fine materials, natural stones and freshwater pearls. Each one has its own character. A natural stone is never quite identical to the one beside it, and that is precisely what I am after: none of my pieces can be reproduced identically, because the material itself refuses to repeat.
What binds it all is wire. I use bonsai training wire, the kind used to guide a branch towards the shape you wish for it, without ever forcing it. That is exactly what I ask of my wire. It must hold without being seen, bend without breaking, and keep the position I give it once my hand is withdrawn.
There is something fitting about borrowing that particular tool. A bonsai is a tree that has been patiently persuaded. My beaded trees are born of the same patience, one bead after another, one twist of wire after another.
And then there is colour. A thousand and one colours, and above all those of the seasons: the raw green of spring, the golds of autumn, the greys of winter. I do not invent these shades, I find them again.
My art is a kind of dynamic meditation.
The more I create, the more ideas bud in my head!
