François Décorchemont embodies a rare type of artist for whom creation is inseparable from experimentation. From an early stage, he approached pâte de verre as a material to be invented rather than a technique inherited, multiplying trials and observations in order to master its reactions to fire. From 1904 onwards, he produced his own material by melting blocks of glass enriched with metallic oxides, which he then ground into powder to apply to his works.

His process evolved gradually. By firing the pieces without separating them from the mould, using refractory clay matrices adapted to the properties of glass, the design gained firmness, contours became more precise, and the pâte itself more homogeneous. Building on this technical mastery, Décorchemont went on to create more ambitious works, with thick walls that nevertheless retain their translucency, allowing light to remain active within the material.

Modelled from a wheel-thrown prototype, his works are built through the manual application of coloured glass powders, carefully distributed and ultimately unified by a final background tone. The firing process—long and delicate—fixes the colours permanently within the mass. After a slow cooling period, lasting between four and five days, the pieces are unmoulded and partially polished.

Solid yet harmonious, Décorchemont’s works are distinguished by a sober beauty and an intrinsic chromatic richness. Marbling and cloud-like veils of colour, integral to the glass substance itself, sometimes evoke jade or hardstones from the Far East. The decoration, increasingly restrained, is never autonomous; it serves above all to reveal the material, the true subject of his work.