Anouka cup - horizontal bark

A unique porcelain cup made in France

Made of porcelain and with a capacity of around 5 cl, the Horizontal Bark cup is the result of the handiwork of ceramic artist Anne Leduc, whose Anouka workshop is located in Nantes. Through this approach, Palais des Thés wishes to highlight the expertise of French ceramists.

A lover of nature, Anne observes, touches and collects samples of moss, bark and leaves, which she uses directly or by analogy in the creation of these pieces. The Bark cups are the result of her experiments and observations of tree bark.

"By mimetic means, I cut into the porcelain with a special tool to protect the delicate content of the cup. The tea nestles in a delicately striated and sculpted porcelain skin, just as the tree contains the sap that nourishes it.

Structured and delicate, the porcelain takes shape thanks to a gesture inspired by nature and light.

As part of this same collaboration, discover the 8 cl Anouka Vertical Bark cup.

Production stages

1) Turning

Anne places carefully weighed balls of porcelain clay on her potter's wheel. The combination of pressure from her hands and the rotation of the potter's wheel transforms them into small cylinders.

2) The bark

Once the cylinders are leather-like in consistency, i.e. a little dry, Anne trims each cup with a small trimmer to draw the random striations of the bark.

3) Drying and kiln-firing

The cups are then air-dried. Once completely dry, they are kiln-fired a first time before being sanded and glazed on the inside.

They are then fired a second and final time at 1270°C before being finished.

Meet ceramist Anne Leduc

Anne began ceramics as a hobby at the age of 15. Later, she enrolled in evening classes at the Beaux-Arts and perfected her skills, before passing a ceramist diploma (CAP tournage). In 2013, she set up her Anouka Céramique workshop in Nantes, France, making ceramics her work as well as her passion.

"I create porcelain objects for the art of the table, useful shapes for the hand, for drinking, for eating - to make everyday life sacred.

I also create Monoliths, standing stones anchored in space, existing for themselves and for their auras.

I like to play with glazes on the sides of my pieces, creating whiteness to reveal purity.

I work with clay, and porcelain is particularly suited to my hands.

I love meeting it and putting it to the test of my creative impulses.

I turn, model and sculpt this skin of clay, discovering a rich and poetic palette of shapes and hues. Contemplation is part of my universe, and I find inspiration in nature, in the living, in the elements, in the things of life - a drip, an imprint, a mistake.

My work is divided into several collections, between barks and striations, gestures and poems, furrows and scales."