A Journey in Clay: Francoise Dufayard

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FRANCOISE DUFAYARD IS A DEDICATED CERAMIST AND a passionate traveller. Her life as a potter is a journey that is nourished by extensive journeys where the purpose of the travelling is not necessarily to arrive. Her pots are a synthesis of all she experiences. They are both an expression of herself and, as ceramics is the only livelihood for herself and her daughters, they are her work in the most profound sense of the word. Her occupation as a designer-maker would have won the approval of William Morris and the 19th century Arts & Crafts movement, for now, as in Morris's time, it is a life that demands creativity and skill but would soon stall without discipline and labour. The concept may be romantic but the practicalities are exacting.

Dufayard first modelled clay as a child and later, as a teenager, she took some pottery classes. These experiences were sufficiently meaningful for her to look for work in a pottery when, aged 22, she returned from travelling in Japan. At this time she had the good fortune to find employment with Gustave and Sylvette Tiffoche, fountain makers in Guerande, Brittany, where, in addition to large architectural …