In his workshop, tucked away among the maquis of the Gard department, Alain Mailland reveals the beauty of the treasures that this type of shrubland keeps hidden: heather, strawberry tree, cade juniper, pistachio tree, hackberry, dogwood, Phillyrea and Italian buckthorn to name but a few...
From carpentry to the potters' wheel, Alain explores and pushes back his own boundaries to invent new shapes. He was one of the first in France to hollow out green wood to best exploit the material produced from drying fibres. In order to produce turned flowers, he has developed a technique that has opened the door to new sculptures: unlikely flowers, mutant sea anemones, floating octopi... The evocative names for his pieces are often mischievous ("La Maman des Poissons", " Les Ames-Sœurs", " Le Parfum du Cerisier", etc) suggesting strange yet harmonious combinations of flora and fauna, sea-life and vegetable. He has also developed a technique of misaligning the wheel, enabling him to produce large-scale pieces, such as a mass of coral assembled together. His work is finished using bending, planing, sand-blasting and texturing techniques, sometimes with the addition of pigments or dyes.
His work is favoured by collectors, and has travelled around museums and galleries in France, Europe, America, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong and China...