Ceramic artists Justine and Jean Hay de Slades’ rustic home and studio in France’s Haute Saintonge were years in the making. First, Justine had to establish her line of bone-white porcelain that she calls Epure—the exquisitely simple wares are what first caught our eye: see Made In a Barn in France.
Success enabled Jean to join the business in 2014: he oversees production. And recently the family bought a parcel of land with two decrepit 19th-century structures on it that enabled them to build their ideal live-work setup for themselves and their young daughter, Alma. “It’s a small wood house with many windows and a lot of light,” Justine tells us. “We don’t need or want a lot of space for living, but our atelier is twice the size, with limestone walls and old fireplaces.”
Not surprisingly, the color white pervades both buildings, along with a lot of handmade touches: Justine and Jean’s fingerprints are on every surface and if you look closely, you can also spot their cat’s paw prints memorialized in clay.
Photography by Jean Hay de Slade, courtesy of Epure.
The House
Haute Saintonge is in the Charente-Maritime, on the southwest coast of France between Bordeaux and Cognac. “It’s a place where you can breath,” says Justine, who, having formerly lived and worked in the same building, felt very ready for a division of labor.
The stove is a French-made Supra—it and two radiators (in Alma’s room and the bath) heat the whole house. The new floor is painted concrete.
The Studio
Follow Epure’s latest @epure.ceramique.
We are eternally inspired by artist’s quarters. Here are three more favorites:
- A Ceramic Artist’s Enviable Life on the Scottish Coast
- Living Above the Studio: At Home and Work with Lappalainen
- Hudson Valley Hues: At Home with an Inventive Textile Designer
