Martine Rey, an artist specializing in urushi lacquer, teaches kintsugi, the art of repairing both physical and symbolic wounds, drawing on ancestral techniques. In Japan, lacquer is considered a prestigious art, an ornamental art that traditionally emphasizes the adornment of objects with the finesse of a goldsmith.
As a contemporary designer, Martine Rey quickly shifted this approach. Rather than creating objects where lacquer is merely a redundant or superfluous addition, she chooses objects with a story and seeks to transform our perception of them by applying lacquer. Her goal is to give lacquer its full value as a precious material. She sees it not as a simple means of protection or decoration, but as a substance that gives ordinary, anonymous, abandoned, and neglected objects the status of relics and talismans. Beneath the lacquer, these objects reveal themselves and uncover unsuspected depths.
For five days, she will introduce participants to this artistic craft and this natural lacquer with its incredible properties.
At the end of the training, the trainee will be able to:
Kintsugi, an art symbolizing the resilience and beauty of life's scars, transforms fault lines into lines of strength. Literally meaning "golden joint" in Japanese, kintsugi involves restoring broken or damaged objects not by concealing their cracks, but by enhancing them with gold. This art celebrates imperfection and fragility, revealing the unique value of each fracture mark.
Through the technique of lacquer, with its laboriousness, slowness, and preciousness, Martine Rey evokes memories of times spent watching her mother tenderly mend the children's clothes. She recalls the wind pushing the clouds, the moments spent picking up pebbles that deformed her pockets. Day 1
Morning and Afternoon
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Days 2 and 3
Morning and Afternoon
*Vegetable lacquer can cause allergic contact dermatitis (hence the need to wear gloves!); to reduce any possible side effects, you can take homeopathic medicine one week before (and one week after).
For 40 years, the work of Martine Rey, in perpetual motion, has explored space and time through urushi lacquer and the melancholy of objects so dear to Japanese culture: Mono no aware.
The artist thus confronts a material whose application technique reflects her own personal and artistic journey, one of patience and delicacy.
"I create objects that create an emotional, even intimate connection between oneself and the object, a ceaseless quest for the lost object, and/or the one that has been missing, forever."
Martine Rey, a lacquer artist specializing in urushi plant-based lacquer, discovered this ancestral technique 40 years ago during her studies at the Kyoto University of Fine Arts in Japan, where she trained under Master Shinkaï. This initiatory journey profoundly influenced her artistic journey, revealing a close connection with Japanese culture. Since then, she has continued to reinvent this living material in her works.
After training in "European lacquer" at the École Supérieure des Arts Appliqués de Paris, she settled in Voiron, where she still lives and works today. In 1980, she founded the LAC (Laqueurs Associés pour la Création) association and taught vegetable lacquer at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Appliqués et Métiers d'Art de Paris between 2002 and 2009. Her work has been exhibited in France and abroad, and she has been selected several times for the Ishikawa Triennale. She has also been invited to the World Urushi Culture Council Symposium in Tokyo and the International Fair of Lacquer and Painting Design in Ishikawa.
Far from limiting herself to the ornamentation of objects, Martine Rey uses urushi to transform ordinary objects into relics or talismans, revealing their history and hidden essence. Her approach is marked by a close connection with Japan and its aesthetic, particularly the "poignant melancholy of things" (Mono no aware). Her creations are rooted in a quest for silent beauty, where the slowness and meticulousness of the lacquer technique mark the passage of time, making each gesture a bearer of memory and sensitivity. For 40 years, she has explored this space-time, giving urushi lacquer all its depth and preciousness.
Martine Rey thus creates a shared space of discovery and intimacy, a place where memories and gestures intertwine. This space unfolds through the multiple layers of lacquer, similar to deeply buried palimpsests (manuscripts made from parchments reused after the erasure of previous writings). Lacquer acts as a witness to the passage of time, connecting the present to memory.
Martine Rey is represented by Galerie Sinople. A former resident of Villa Kujoyama, she is particularly sensitive to the transmission of her craft. She has a passion for Urushi lacquer.
She trains in kintsugi, the art of repairing wounds, both literally and figuratively, using centuries-old techniques.
Price(s) including the cost of training, accommodation and full board, materials and personal protective equipment.
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