DECHE

The Deche vase is inspired by the Ardèche region of south-west France, an ancient landscape with the river at its centre. Steep cliffs rise above the water, and within the rock lie caves where early Homo sapiens once lived. Hidden for thousands of years beneath fallen stone and tangled undergrowth, their entrances remained concealed from view.

Chauvet Cave, its walls alive with painted beasts, and the Aven d’Orgnac grotto, filled with stalactites, stalagmites, and hanging folds of salt tinted a fleshy pink, are vast chambers of otherworldly wonder. In their deep darkness, forms seem to grow like sculptures in slow formation.

These caves speak of metamorphosis, of shapes that emerge, twist, and transform in silence. They suggest a passage from liquid to crystal, building an underground cathedral of mineral, salt, and stone.

It is water that has carved these hollow depths, permeating and burrowing through the rock to create space for such immense beauty. And in the river itself, stones are softened by the current into ribbons and bowls, their hardness moulded by movement.