Steaven Richard:

Paris - Artsmithing

In the beginning, I really wanted to understand the traditional artistic French So I work and I draw a lot of French rotary run. And when I traveled in different country, I always try to understand the different style. During my travel, I spend every weekend to go in different city. When I’ve been in London, I spend so many times to walk in the city, to explore the architecture, to visit museums. To believe it was the same.

So for me, the travel was my university.

Hi. This is Sarah with another episode of Materially Speaking, where artists and artisans tell their stories through the materials they choose. Today, Mike Axon and I take the train 50 kilometers south of Paris, through the suburbs to the dense wooded area of Bois Leroy, next to the forest of Fontainebleau. Here, we’re meeting Steaven Richard, whose love of horses led to a stint in the army as a farrier making horseshoes. He apprenticed to several artisan blacksmiths in France, Germany, England and Ireland, where he also discovered a range of architectural styles before establishing his own studio in Paris.

Atelier Steaven Richard has become famous for its artistic metalwork. Prestigious designs include a bespoke metal floor for the studio of Karl Lagerfeld, the elevator doors for the Hotel de Paris in Monaco and a Steaven Richard limited edition bottle from Remy Martin. As demand for his work grew, Steaven needed more space and moved to a large warehouse in Valenton, where his team of blacksmiths and metal workers combined traditional skills and new technology. As the train slows into the station, a bright blue sky is visible above the dense forest of wintry trees and we see the lanky figure of Stephen waiting on the platform to greet us. He drives us to his facility and welcomes us into his office where busy assistants answer the phones and slip in and out of the workshop.

He shows us a gorgeous wall of samples in a colorful array of textures, patterners and designs. And we also tour his huge hangar like workshop which is buzzing with activity in the thrum of machinery. Enormous shelves hold sheets of carefully labeled metals. There’s large scale equipment and workers’ hand finishing on long benches. It’s artisans’ work on a grand scale.

On trolleys, we see some completed pieces, engraved, etched and crafted in the styles for which he has become celebrated in Europe and around the world. I understand you’re both an artisan and an artist, and so this is like the application of art to a practical solution.

Exactly. This is very interesting because it’s exactly my itinerary. They have a foot in the artistic area and the other foot in the technical area. So I have to manage all of the time the two kind of situations and find solution for artistic issue and technical issues. Did you study architecture?

No. No. Never. I was a furrier, so I work with horses. But I learned how to forge orthopedic horseshoes.

And for this reason, I could, in Germany, work in a workshop who made the restoration of the gate of the Castle Of Karlsruhe. And when I work in this workshop, I beginning to learn the work of art smithing, blacksmithing, but in a artistic way.

I like the word. I’ve not heard it before, but it’s perfect.

David Towson said art smithing.

Where were you born?

In Brittany, in Finisterre, and I moved in in Paris when I was five. So I grew up part in Paris, a part in Limousin, which is a very wild region in the center of France. And after, I began my apprenticeship in Normandy.

So what brought you to be a farrier?

I ride horses when I was young, and I really want to work with horses. So for this reason, I was fascinated by the man who came at home to make horseshoes for the horse, and I really wanted to be a fire. Normally, there was a very good school. She’s school is closed now. At this time, the apprenticeship in France was three years, so it was quite strong.

And after this apprenticeship of three years, I made my military service in the Garre Publican, the National Guard, because they need some fire to shoot the horse of the guard. And I spent one year with them. It was very interesting because they continue to forge in a very traditional way with three men. So there is one smith and two help with big hammer in front of the smith, and they forge with the three hammer, and it’s a very difficult technique. It was from the nineteenth century.

So some of this horseshoe that we learned to forge was complete torture for us because that was not efficient at all. But the technique to forge them was very interesting, so they continued to forge this kind of horseshoes. After my military service, I beginning to work in Avignon in the North and in the region of Paris as a farrier during two or three years. After all this, I met some German artisan, and I decided to organize a travel in Germany. I really wanted to go in the artistic way.

So I had the technique to forge orthopedic and traditional orthopedic or shows. It’s really necessary to learn very precise force technique. So I beginning to work in Germany during one years. I work in Fulda, in Rostock, in Marhanheim, and in Ludwigshafen, which is quite close. When I arrived in the workshop of Hertraubel in Marhanheim, it was very easy for me to forge leaves, rows in a completely German tradition because I learned to forge orthopedic horseshoes.

And after that, I decided to go to London. I stayed half year in London and one year in Dublin. After this, I worked in Lyon in Paris again, and I stay a bit few weeks next to New York. During my travel, I spend every weekend to go in different city. When I’ve been in London, I spend so many times to walk in the city, to explore the architecture, to visit museums, Dublin, it was the same.

So for me, the travel was my university.

How does your own personal taste influence this work?

Well, I said that I come from the Forge. So in the beginning, I really wanted to understand the traditional artistic French route tyrants. So I work and I draw a lot of French wood iron. And when I traveled in different country, I always try to understand the different style. And in Germany, for example, the ornamentation is in forge.

In France, you can see the ornamentation in sheet metals. This is completely different technique, and this is very interesting to see that you can see in Karlsruhe, Germany, for example. The technique that the Smiths used was very, very German. This is a deep forge, but the drawing of the orientation is very French. In Spain, the gates is very vertical, and you see this kind of gate also in Southwest Of France.

The representative of Christie’s is here, make an exception, to make restoration for Martin Zecheli rucks. So

we’re in your workshop space. Can I ask how big it is?

Thousand square meters on the floor. And with the mezzanine, we have 600 square meters around.

And this is why you moved out of Paris, I guess.

My old workshop was very lovely, but 100 square meters was not enough to continue to make our research with every project that we have. So we’re moving from Paris, but with commandeer.

With the passion still.

Yeah. With the passion still, and it was a very old workshop with the courtyard with the glass enclosure. So the light was perfect. There was so beautiful atmosphere.

How many people are working here?

Here today, 15. And when we were in Paris, it’s only possible to work with four people.

Do you want to show us what you wanted to when we came in?

The workshop have two parts. First part, it’s the part of sheet metal, and the second part, it’s a profile area. Here, we have the stock of the sheet metal in the entrance. We work a lot on plans to think how to have the best organization because a good organization is less tiring. On the right, a cutting machine to cut the metal when it’s necessary.

After this, a CNC drilling machine who can cut, drill and prepare to bend the sheet metal. The big creation, it’s with the texture and with the patina. The second step of the creation is the form or the design. And in this case, there is two possibilities. Sometime we propose a completely new design to our architect.

And sometime they arrive with the idea that we continue to improve together.

Is there some work that you’re especially proud of?

The first that I want to present to you is completely unique in the world because this is artistic lamination that we developed ten years ago when we had the order from Karl Garfel to make a floor in this Chanel office. We call that one channel texture because this is the texture that we use for the floor in Calligraphel. So this that one, it’s a point texture. So this possibility of texture is completely infinite. And we mix this kind of texture with two kind of patina.

The first one is the bronze patina that a lot of people know because it’s quite usual. And the other one is the warm patina that is the oxidation of the metal. And we can do this with the torch and pencil and different product. So you can see here on different metal or alloy, the warm patina. We use copper, zinc and brass, silver nickel and sometimes kind of aluminum and normal steel with different acid to control the corrosion.

So it’s not only to put a sheet of metal under the rain and get corrosion. It’s necessary to control and to make a kind of cloud but not figurative, very abstract and make patina on metals. Two other now that I want to present to you is CNC engraved drawing with CNC. And the CNC can open more possibilities.

So you do the design on the computer Yes. And then it is carved by machine?

Exactly. Engraved with the machine. And after, we made a hand patina. The last is acid etching that we developed to make other kind of design on sheet metals.

That reminds me of that beautiful velvet that you use with acid. You take out some

of the Exactly. This is a technique. We put protection on the part of the metal that we want to protect against the acid and the other part of the metal which not have protection get eaten away.

So it ends up with a beautiful lace effect, doesn’t it? Is it a little bit like a lace?

This is the kind of possibility that we can do with the warm patina. But some of them are only experimental. So for example, we never use this purple patina. The expectation of the designer are more in this kind of color, blue, green. But purple, it’s not the time of the purple color.

Is this a French fashion thing?

There is always a mode. And it’s very interesting that the expectation of the architect in London are completely different than in Brussels or in Geneva or in Paris. In Zurich, for example, we have a lot of demand to work with zinc because the color on this metal are a little bit soft and not so brilliant. So they prefer to have that kind of color. In London, it’s possible to be more exuberant.

And it’s difficult to speak about Paris because it’s too close from me. But in Brazil, for example, I was very surprised that they are very Nordic. What

projects are magic for you? Which ones have you done which are wonderful for you?

I think because it was a turning point, the floor of Carla Garfield’s studio was a very important project for me. The two champagne cave that I made for Hotel Creon, which is also very important for the demonstration of the possibility of the new know how of artistic lamination that I wanted. And I really appreciate the collaboration that I have with Pierre Jovanovic because his design is very close of my sensibilities, and I made for him some very beautiful pieces in curtain effect.

We saw a very beautiful collaboration, I guess, or invitation maybe from Remy Martin. And that looked to me like Remy Martin were asking for your artistic style on their bottle. And I wondered whether you either signed your work or whether now your work is so well known that you are asked to maybe do a touch of Steaven Richard work on somebody else’s project.

When they contact me, they explain to me that they want to make a limited edition, and they ask me if it’s possible for me to create a sculpture according to the atmosphere of Remy Martin. We stamp every works with our signature.

And what is the inspiration for all of this work?

There is many possibilities of inspiration, but when I work with architect, have to make a decision to not be in concurrence with the other material. I never begin a creation for project without to ask the designer to send me the three d plans of these designs and make sure that my provision will perfectly match with the other materials, except when the order is to make an artistic panel. And in this case, we have the possibility to be more present in a decorative way. The other example that I have to present to you is elevator doors, leave doors for English. This elevator doors was made for the Hotel de Paris in Monaco, and it was the first order for lift doors.

We made 40 doors like this. Because we made these doors, which have quite a lot of publication, we have now a lot of order for decorative lift doors. There is a big misunderstanding in architecture. The lift industry or elevator industry doesn’t really understand the architecture, and the architect are completely disappointed when they have to use the decorative proposition of the industry of the elevators, and they are very interesting when I propose to be between the elevators company and the architect to find technique and aesthetic solution. So this is, for us, a new business because we have a lot of demand for decorative lift doors.

What a journey from horseshoes to elevator doors.

Horses was my first passion.

Thank you. That was wonderful.

You’re welcome.

So thanks to Steaven Richard. You can discover more about him on his website, steavenrichard.fair or find him on Instagram at ateliersteavenrichard. And thanks to you for listening. As with all episodes, you can find photographs on our website materiallyspeaking.com or on our new Instagram account at materiallyspeakingpodcast. If you’re enjoying Materially Speaking, please subscribe to our newsletter on our website and we’ll let you know when the next episode goes live.