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Landry Debette, Philippe Level, Hélène Level, Laurence Debette et Denis Debette |
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in front of the shelving of the museum " A la Belle Epoque de la Faïence de Desvres" |
Above all the museum
" A la belle époque de la faïence de Desvres " is
the idea, the will and the passion of a man : Denis Debette. Denis
was born forty-two years ago in Desvres. Married to Laurence, he is the
happy father of a seven years old daughter. He is the owner of the café
"Les Canadiens" in Saint-Inglevert.
Everything started some twenty years ago now. At this time, Denis
discovered Desvres earthenware with an earthenware fruit basket made by
René Delarue. It was love at first sight and the beginning of a great
love story. Denis who was in love with this artist started looking for
pieces made by the latter in all the second-hand markets of the area.
Nowadays, his quests are much easier thanks to the Internet. As time went
by, Denis who is a real self taught person got a real knowledge about
masters earthenware’s history and expertise. He considers himself, and
he’s right to think so, as part of the living memory of these good old
days of Desvres earthenware. His various peregrinations in the Nord –
Pas de Calais county enabled him to get a collection of more than 2,500
pieces.
In 2006, Denis heard about the compulsory liquidation of Gabriel
Fourmaintraux workshops, the last factory which had not been demolished. A
great adventure which is far from being over started then. Denis, his wife
and three of their friends , all having the same passion, decided to
acquire the workshops to bring them back to life by creating a museum
dedicated to earthenware. Their aim was easy and complicated at the same
time. It dealt with bringing a glorious past to life and developing this
huge local heritage. Their task was not easy , they had to turn a factory
into a museum but nothing is impossible to a willing heart and after one
year of hard work , the factory finally became a museum.
Developing Fournainraux workshops enabled to discover and emphasize on the
mother moulds and a great deal of moulds, some of them dating from 1880.
10,000 moulds are still visible at the museum. For the visitors, it will
be a rare opportunity to be at the heart of a production site and to
discover all the process of what should be called master pieces. The
artist’s magic occurs with earth, water and fire. To end with a
magnificent collection awaiting for visitors impatiently.
