little nervous
if as if like me you have watched
early heads before before you understand
why is that
as you know I am a blower of
glass speak especially in this
circumstance I’m not very comfortable
so I asked you from me
before I tell my story
if you want to blow once
thank you
if you do not mind I ‘ll start at
beginning
at that age I am at Gabon in
Africa
the light is here waiting for what she
vibrates the colors and nourishes the
plants like nowhere else
I am a fascinated child in this
middle there are no shops or internet
neither TV have played it’s a
slingshot I made
like the kids of villages I go to
hunting everything fascinates me the clouds the
colors the tastes
in 1985 my parents decide to
separate if one of the most beautiful years
of my life
I find myself in a suburb in new
york at my grandma’s with my dad
is my with my mother and my brother
and there I discover the snow the cold
my mother enroll me in a school
montessori which is like a school of
hippies where the child is king
I spend my days there doing
naps and disguise myself
I fall in love with my teacher at the end of
my mistress the universe that I just
to leave is this one
at that age I’m at the peak
sensory of my life
my mother one day in the cabin of the
garden facing a big window sort
a paper and paintings and there I
discover something even more
amazing I remember it as if
it was yesterday
the smell of paint the texture in
the fingers my mother who was smiling sunshine
who was shining outside and the traces of my
fingers on this paper on this paper I
do not hide that I am inhabited
this year was this year a
been great but go it’s over because
that my parents decided to
rejoin
so i went back to africa little
time after i arrived in africa a
day in the kitchen running after my
brother I fall into a glass pile
and I tear my arm
if the beginning of what I call
darkness for years for
the years that follow
I discovered things that I did not have
not discovered before I feel
things that disturbs me
the injustice of poverty the leprosy
malnutrition this same environment
which I lived that fascinated me
suddenly scares me times of time
in time with my mother we cry it’s
too much for us at the same time
besides my mother she is taken from a
depression that will last for years
my dad is less and less there in
1993 my mother decides to leave us
she will not come back a year after that is
my dad he’s undergoing an aneurysm will only be
never the same there is to die at seven
years later and overnight I am
found pi from the repatriated nation in
France and I am lost
I am angry I am lost
I am white I am black I am feet
naked I have to put shoes I
do not know at 18 years old I’m escaping
united states where I had been
so happy and I discover a
day at the end of a cane the light
this light that I lost during
so many years
at that moment I did not know I know
I’m going to be a glassblower
all my life now that I have
found this light I do not want anymore
lose it then workshop in workshop I
travel and I learn how to do
is a language a language between my
hands and the material since for
sublimate this light to go to
end of my questioning and my
dialogue with this thing that me
passionate and who makes us live and who
makes me vibrate I must learn to
talk to him then I become a craftsman
but the problems do not stop
there in 2001 I go through the windshield
from a car from the inside to
outdoors
the window of the car tore my
paul gibert almost all my senses i ‘m
breaks the hips and ribs
in 2003 I lost my aunt who took me
adopted for years after that
I fight against a toxi manic and toc
Simani Drug Addiction Severe Addiction
at the age of 31 I am visited by
cancer a cancer metastasized a
skin cancer I have surgery
twice but you see during everything
that time I have the light I have this
incredible material mesh between
hands who lives by fire who lives on energy
and who has very particular rules
and if I want to express myself with must
that I learn his language and thanks to
this language
I want to survive I live
this matter she fascinates me
which is complicated at that moment
is that I live it of a craftsman is
not as simple as we imagine especially
glass-blower
I do not know if you know
a lot of glassblower but there
has less and less and I realize
besides during this trip that there is
fewer and fewer artisans of many
of know-how that they
disappear everywhere that’s a
problem the society in which
I live is taking away my
light through crafts
I discover a lot of things
because in the face of this problem actually
I’m looking at the question of
craftsmanship is what does it mean to
craft and why we are here
today
so I’m doing some research in a
richard sennett’s book called
the craftsman I discover that the craftsman
a very long time ago was the mainstay of
his community
under the same roof
manage his workshop the creation and of
the other side his family I think he
did not manage his family but you see
what I mean are wise men
in Greek antiquity
artisans are the middle class
high
they have a huge power finally for a
great affluence from elsewhere
today you can see you well
than when their creations so no
no price
during this antiquity an idea is
by someone we all know
what is called aristotle he says that
because we think he’s frustrated
done with the craftsman who considers a
little like a nag that works with
his hands and who has a little too much
power in the society in which
he lives he says that to push the
creation one must separate the hand and the
head that the craftsman is the designer
have to be different people
I can imagine that someone for
someone like me is complicated
luckily I have an ally it’s called
platoon that not long after
will defend the concept finally the idea that
precisely to push the creation to
his further must be that the hand and the
head be attached to me that’s what I
defend
see it’s not an easy job between
hands I have a thousand more than 1000
degrees a matter that burns me me
claw brings me back every day to the
reality that things are finished that
everything has a beginning to an end
this matter this know-how allows me
to reconnect with the people with whom
I work who I show how
learn the language of craftsmanship and
so I share a know-how
to this trip to the world of the craftsman
of crafts I rediscover with this
dialogue that gets better and better
finally named more and more fluid seen
we talk about glass I rediscover the
sun i’m rediscovering africa in
which I grew up with colors
vibrating on the black skins the
fog the clouds
those big clouds I was talking about
I was little the fruit the
vegetation
I just put this picture for you
understand that I work in big
even the snow the winter that I have
discovered when I was 5 years old see
thanks to this language which is my knowledge
do in this world of artisans I
recognize that you have my head and my hand
know that my head my hand to
the universe around me and all that
makes sense and allows me every day
to live my dream for two years
have fun
another thing that fascinates me is
the universe that’s my version the universe
the planets that revolve around the
black if a table not very practical
she’s pretty cool two years ago
I had the chance to open my first
Workshop in Paris which is a workshop
showcase I have a glass of 6 m in
which one works and every day I
can share my passion and my knowledge
do with people in my neighborhood the
Wednesday afternoon at the exit
of school all the little ones pass by
this colts to the window and look with
big eyes and when I see it’s
small it reminds me of me and I say
always in ten years the twelfth will be
filled with glassblower
you will see the good news
is that these trades this way of
work and express themselves are in
disappear, but also in
renewing itself
we renew many associations
happily contribute to society
the collective consciousness starts a little
to wake up
I think people are tired of
spend two hours at ica and from
come out without having a trace of mans
I think people all need
to reconnect with objects that
surround us and we all need that
the objects around us and from
the mind
somewhere is the job of
the craftsman is to give back spirit
to objects
thanks to this workshop I can
parallel to work in the world
of luxury made pieces that even
I can not buy myself I can
blow a little drink for the people of the
district
I can share my passion with
neighborhood kids have know-how
show them that it’s possible to
work with thin man in this
workshop I can I can make live
other people who turn to glass
and our know-how can be
discover
even the little dog and he takes advantage of it
so that’s actually my message it’s
quite simple in a world that follows
virtualizes more and more in a world
which follows virtualizes more and more I
proposes that we leave more room
to this idea of craft
the whole craft or the hand and the
head are linked so that humanity
may have a little more light
in a world where this light is
threatened thank you
[Applause]
”
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