For some years now, I have been infatuated with beautiful and rare creations. That's because our regions are overflowing with unexpected talent, often with an international reputation. There they are, discreetly set up in their workshops: our craftspeople creating artistic wonders which will dazzle connoisseurs. My aim is to document them all. This photographic-based work has given rise to a website devoted entirely to exceptional handcrafted work.
My most recent article presents Jérémie Hynderick, a skilled metalworker by profession, who works in Mazy, a stone's throw from Gembloux. Find the full article and additional images on my website www.lesmiroirsdelombre.com
Patrice Niset - June 2018.
For as long as I have worked on stories, my process has always been the same... find a trade to present and work with a craftsperson who excels, who is extraordinary, a prime witness. The creative world of Jérémie Hynderick lifts metalwork to the rank of an artistic profession.
“I let myself be guided by life”, Jérémie tells me from the outset. Completely self-taught, he tried several academies and art schools before embarking on working life. Passionate about the visual arts, he doesn’t like the “system” as he calls it; too many commissions are needed to break through. So, Jérémie began his career in the theatre and more specifically, at the Papyrus theatre, where his meeting with Bernard Chemin, a true craftsman of the performing arts, sealed Jérémie’s fate for a few years of intense, formative learning.
In a theatre, the main stage manager must be able to do everything, from making sets to the most improbable utensils such as this bath on wheels with which he really struggled. It was during this time that Jérémie began to try welding, still while making sets. For Bernard, this dream-maker who sometimes spent weeks resolving a technical problem for a show, nothing was impossible ... he taught Jérémie to search and think outside the box.
Jérémie likes to say he is a self-taught man who has surrounded himself and is advised by high quality craftspeople. The technique remains a means, the end being to create, to think differently. Once he had a foot on the ladder, Jérémie began his career as a metalworker with the best prospects. Not content with offering high quality creations, he met the famous Brussels florist Thierry Boutemy with whom he would work closely on prestigious projects.
Thierry is internationally famous for covering buildings in plants, decorating banquets with flowers and even working on film sets (Marie-Antoinette by Sofia Coppola, that was him). Most of the structures needed for his art are designed and manufactured by Jérémie and his teams in the small workshop in Mazy. The wedding of the Prince de Chimay, covering the façade of the Marcolini store in Brussels, sumptuous receptions, these two craftsmen have collaborated for the delight of our eyes, all over Europe.
It was during the construction of a sculpture for the Félicien Rops Museum in Namur (Belgium) that the LMdO first came across the workshop at Mazy. For the 2018 Namur Flower Festival, the institution has appointed Thierry Boutemy to design of an astonishing work: Félicien Rops loved flowers and curvy women. Thierry has risen to the challenge with a poetic and humorous, but never vulgar, combination! The idea is to recreate a giant backside in flowers where the visitor is invited to enter inside... a whole programme.
Jérémie also expresses this taste for all things plant-based in his creations. The range of garden fire accessories is a return to nature. Simple, common sense. Balustrades and other spiral staircases are the opportunity for him to work on the curve, to bend and taper the metal to merge it with a sensual root, a slightly untameable young shoot. His art is evolving in this way, his metalworking remains utilitarian but he wants it to be poetic and tell stories.
What Jérémie teaches us about his Art: A metal passion !
“Keep your feet on the ground and let your imagination fly. That’s how the process that guides me in my craft can be described. From the discrete charm of a curved ramp to the exuberance of a floral installation, each project is a blank page to be drawn with you.
In a process of perpetual aesthetic and technical research, I support you in the creation of unique and personal pieces. Staircases, handrails, gates, work surfaces, … steel lends itself to all creations.
Alongside these bespoke creations, I also offer a range of indoor and outdoor furniture. Braziers, griddles, chairs and benches frequently result in me working with both wood and steel. These pieces are available on order”.
Full article on www.lesmiroirsdelombre.com
CTA
Sign up
Complete the application form and adhere to the Charter of Brand Ambassadors
