How a papier-mâché lamp is made, from ground newspaper to wax

Between the moment I draw a shape and the moment the lamp leaves in its box there are seven steps and several weeks. None of them is spectacular. Put end to end, they explain why no two pieces are ever quite the same.

The drawing

I draw in Blender, software made for animation, not for industry. That is exactly what interests me: it allows organic volumes, with continuous curves that spread the loads. A shape that sits well to the eye often sits well in fact — the material works less where nothing forms an angle.

These are volumes that are hard to get in wood or terracotta. In paper and plaster paste, they come out of the mould as they are.

The mould

Every model has its own tooling, and no two are alike. Some pieces are cast in silicone; others are built over a frame; the largest are shaped over a template that is lost when the piece comes off. Making the tooling often takes longer than making the first piece.

That is also what explains the spread of prices: a Splitt injected into a mould and an Amba shaped one at a time do not take the same time.

The paste

Salvaged newspaper, dry-ground by a company near Béziers to the grain size that gives the texture. To that I add plaster made in France, a plant-based glue, and mineral pigments when the piece is coloured through the mass.

The paste is mixed at the last moment: it sets fast. It is the one step where I am not allowed to get the timing wrong.

The shaping

Everything is laid by hand, never poured, so as not to trap air. A trapped bubble becomes a hole when the piece is sanded, and a hole shows. It is the longest step and the only one that cannot be delegated.

The drying

Out of the mould, the piece dries in a simply ventilated dryer, using as little energy as possible. It comes out raw, matt, with no colour showing. This is the moment when you cannot yet see what it will become.

Grain and wax

Sanding reveals a terrazzo grain and the flecks of newsprint caught in the mass: blue, red and green specks that are printing ink. Beeswax brings the colour back and hardens the surface. On furniture it is a water-based varnish certified with the European Ecolabel, because a table top receives coffee.

This is the step where the piece becomes unique: the pattern of the flecks cannot be ordered.

Wiring, then the box

Socket, cable, switch, test. The lamps are rated IP21: made for dry rooms. Then the packing, which matters as much as the rest — a piece broken in transit is a piece to make again.

Time

How long it takes

A piece in stock leaves within 24 to 48 hours. A piece to be made takes two to three weeks. A new shape, with its tooling, can take up to three months. I would rather give a date I can hold than a date that sounds good.

See