Raw material meets fragrance
Raw and delicate, these pebbles absorb and release fragrance. More than just scent diffusers, they embody material, gesture, and emotion. Each one is unique, bearing the imprint of the artist’s hand. This collaboration reflects our ongoing commitment to bridging perfume and craftsmanship, working hand in hand with artists and artisans at every stage of our journey.
In this interview, Lou shares her process, her inspirations, and the story behind these singular ceramic pieces.
Can you tell us about your background and what led you to work with ceramics?
I started with a high school diploma in applied arts, then went on to study at the École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, where I earned a Master’s degree in printed image and art direction, followed by a post-master’s in artistic teaching. This broad training allowed me to explore different fields, from graphic design to photography, before gradually moving towards ceramics.
I’ve always been drawn to materials and traditional craftsmanship, and I eventually chose to focus on Limoges porcelain. I was fascinated by its purity and delicacy.
In 2019, I opened my studio in Paris, where I develop an artistic practice centered on turning everyday objects into design pieces. I like to take familiar industrial forms, bottles, cartons, containers, and reimagine them to give them new aesthetic and symbolic meaning.
Alongside my personal work, I’ve collaborated with other artists, brands, and galleries, which helped enrich my creative world and led to limited-edition collections. I also co-founded Haute Température, a lighting brand created with designer Elsa Pochat, which received the “Fabriqué à Paris” (Made in Paris) label from the City of Paris for three years in a row.
Today, I split my time between making unique pieces, working on collaborations, and sharing my craft through teaching, always with the goal of rethinking our relationship with objects and celebrating contemporary craftsmanship.
How would you describe your creative universe and your approach to materials?
My work revolves around reinterpreting everyday objects, especially packaging and plastic containers that fill our homes. I enjoy taking these industrial, often disposable shapes and bringing them into the world of Limoges porcelain, a noble and delicate material. Using plaster molds, I reproduce these familiar forms and transform them into design objects that feel both recognizable and unexpected. That contrast, between the ordinary appearance of the original object and the refinement of porcelain, creates surprise and invites a new perspective.
Decoration also plays an important role in my work. I love using drawing, patterns, and color to give my pieces a graphic, contemporary feel.
This project with Atelier Materi allowed me to explore a more organic approach, while staying true to my desire to turn the everyday into something extraordinary, and to celebrate the beauty of materials and craftsmanship.
What craftsmanship is involved in the making of the Atelier Materi pebbles, from raw material to finished product?
Making the Atelier Materi pebbles involves careful, handcrafted work and a desire to reflect the natural beauty of irregularity. Each pebble is shaped by hand, without a mold, making every piece unique, with its own texture and curves, just like the pebbles you might find by a river. This irregularity is intentional : it gives each object a personal character and captures the mark of the hand that shaped it. At the same time, there’s a real sense of precision in the process. Each lump of clay is weighed to ensure all pebbles have the same mass. This consistency helps with the way the pebble feels in the hand and how it diffuses the fragrance, while still allowing for freedom in form.
After slow air-drying, the pebbles are fired twice: first at 900°C (a step called biscuit firing), then at 1300°C for strength and durability. The process balances precision and spontaneity, structure and freedom, resulting in objects that are both cohesive and one of a kind, just like in nature.
What technical or aesthetic choices did you make to match the olfactory function of these objects?
To make the pebbles work with fragrance, I chose to use raw, unglazed clay, which keeps a matte, porous surface ideal for diffusing scent. Visually, I focused on irregular, organic shapes inspired by natural pebbles, with subtle textures and variations that invite touch and sensory exploration.
The soft beige color adds a sense of simplicity and authenticity, in harmony with Atelier Materi’s minimalist universe. Each pebble becomes a complete sensory object, carrying fragrance, but also inviting a tactile, personal connection.
Each pebble is unique. What does this idea of variation and the imprint of the hand mean to you?
In my usual ceramic work, I often explore repetition, reworking the same form or idea through a series. I like how each piece, even when part of a set, has its own identity.
For this project, the challenge was especially interesting, since I don’t usually sculpt or work with natural forms. It gave me a chance to approach the gesture in a more instinctive, almost meditative way, letting my hands guide the clay without trying to fully control the result.
Each pebble carries the trace of that moment, a meeting between hand and earth, shaped at a specific point in time. Even with identical weight, the forms, textures, and curves naturally vary, just like in nature, where no two pebbles are the same.
That tension between repetition and uniqueness, control and spontaneity, is something I find fascinating, and that I wanted to express through this project.
What would you like people discovering these pebbles in-store to feel or take away from your work?
I hope people are touched by the simplicity and sincerity of these objects. That they take a moment to really look at them, hold them, feel their texture, their weight, and of course, truly smell the fragrance.
I’d love for this to spark their curiosity, a desire to reconnect with materials and with the handmade. And for them to understand that behind each pebble, there’s a gesture, a story, and a deep attention to detail.
More than just a way to hold scent, I hope these pebbles are seen as objects of connection, between nature, the artisan’s hand, and the olfactory world of Atelier Materi.
