This course invites you to discover the fascinating world of porcelain weaving, a unique technique created by artist Sophie Manessiez.
At the intersection of the arts of thread and ceramics, it invites you to shape fine porcelain elements, imagine their assembly, and connect them with gestures inspired by hand weaving.

A journey combining technique and poetry, where each participant freely explores this material to create a flexible, structured, and deeply personal work.

This space for sensitive experimentation, where precision of movement and creativity meet, brings porcelain weaving to life.

Upon completion of the training, the intern will be able to:

• Apply porcelain shaping techniques to produce modular elements suitable for hand-weaving assembly
• Implement a structured process for mass production of small porcelain elements, integrating the steps necessary for dimensional stability, cohesion, and subsequent assembly
• Master weaving or textile bonding assembly methods, enabling the structure of a flexible work from ceramic elements
• Plan and create a work pattern for assembly, taking into account the technical constraints related to the shape, number, and arrangement of the elements
• Integrate a coherent creative approach into the design of a woven ceramic work, mobilizing both technical know-how and creative intent

This course offers an immersion into the unique world of porcelain weaving, an original technique developed by artist Sophie Manessiez. At the intersection of ceramics and the art of thread, it explores both its technical and poetic dimensions.
Designed as a space for experimentation, the course invites each participant to develop their own interpretation of this approach, without attempting to reproduce the artist's works. The goal is to learn how to shape fine porcelain elements, imagine an assembly plan, and then connect them using gestures inspired by hand weaving, to create a flexible, structured, and personal piece.
The program alternates between demonstrations, technical input, workshop work, and individual or group creative time, with particular attention paid to precision of movement, sensitivity to materials, and the free exploration of the medium.

Each student will contribute to the creation of a collective woven porcelain work, while leaving with a personal creation, reflecting their own artistic journey.

Day 1

Morning

• Welcome, presentation of the training, the artistic approach, and the group framework
• Introduction to porcelain weaving

Afternoon

• Exploration of possible modular shapes: cookie cutters, freeform shapes. First pattern sketches

Day 2

Morning

• Finalizing the personal weaving plan
  - Preparing the porcelain

Afternoon

• Shaping the modules according to the defined plan
• Working on regularity, rhythm, and variation

Day 3

Morning

• Continuing shaping
• Sharing and adjusting individual projects for integration into the collective work

Afternoon

• Preparing the pieces for firing
• Discussions about the final assembly

Day 4

Morning

• Discovering the pieces cooked
• Introduction to hand weaving techniques (knots, bindings, seams)
• Practice on individual creations

Afternoon

• Construction of the collective work

Day 5

Morning

• Finalization of each project
• Adjustments and hanging

Afternoon

• Collective presentation, presentation of work, discussion on the process
• Review of the training
• Workshop tidying up

Sophie Manessiez

A French-Canadian artist, Sophie Manessiez lives and works in Quebec. Trained in visual arts and communications, she began her career in events before turning fully to ceramics in 2007. She trained over the years in various workshops in France and Quebec, and in 2021 obtained a diploma in fine craft techniques – ceramics in Montreal.

Her work explores the tensions between uniformity and singularity, between the fragility of life and the strength of connections. Through installations composed of porcelain modules, she constructs sensitive networks where each element asserts its own identity while contributing to a coherent whole. Inspired by the techniques of wire art, she infuses porcelain, a material that is simultaneously supple, rigid, light, and brittle, with a new fluidity.

Her works evoke matter, light, and memory: matter as language, light as a revealer of delicacy, memory as a trace of the gestures, connections, and interconnections of life.

Exhibited in Canada, the United States, and France, and an active member of the Conseil des métiers d'art du Québec, Sophie Manessiez pursues an artistic research that is at once personal, collective, and profoundly poetic.

• Classroom, multipurpose room, workshops with professional equipment
• Materials provided
• Individual and collaborative work
• Workshop work
• Active participation and experimentation of participants are encouraged

• Collective and personalized monitoring of work, regular updates
• Self-assessment of technical skills
• Collective feedback
• Half-day attendance sheet
• Certification of completion issued by Campus MaNa