Culot, Pierre

First name: 
Pierre
Initials: 
P.
Surname: 
Culot
Year of birth: 
1938
Birthplace: 
Malmedy
Country of birth: 
Belgium
Working period: 
1962
Year of death: 
2011
CV: 

Pierre Culot is born in Malmedy in the province of Liège in Belgium in 1938. He grows in Namur where he already at young age shows an attraction to the world of art and antiquity. In 1954 he enters apprenticeship at l' Ecole des Métiers d'Arts de l' Abbaye de Maredsous where he graduates in 1957. He then goes to the Belgian ceramist Antoine de Vinck for an internship and further technological training. In 1958 he joins the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d' Architecture et des Arts décoratifs La Chambre in Brussels and the workshop of sculpturer Charles Leplae. There he meets a whole generation of future artists, including Miche Wynants (born at Leuven in 1934), illustrator, who becomes his wife. He visits other workshops including that of Pierre Caille. Although Culot visited St Ives in the early 1960s, he did not take part in the internship with Bernard Leach. Here he met Johnny Rolf and Jan de Rooden, which led to a long friendship. In 1959-1961, Pierre Culot makes his mandatory military service. He moves to Congo during the events of independence and discovers local ceramics. He set up his first workshop in Brussels (Luxembourg Street) in 1962 and since 1965 in a large studio-workshop in Roux-Miroir. In the early 1960s Culot was especially inspired by the traditional pottery art Grès de Puisaye in France. In 1963, Pierre and Miche go on honeymoon. In 1973/74 he travels to Japan to meet the potter Shõji Hamada. Many other trips will follow to India (1980 and 1990), Yemen (1988) and other countries. Culot works with stoneware clay and fires his bowls and plates at 1280 gr. C. Later he developes to more architectural ceramics. Culot dies in Roux-Miroir on March, 9 2011. He is a potter, mainly slab-built objects, and a sculptor.

Joseph Culot, third child of Pierre and Miche is born in 1967. He continues the workshop of his father. Visit the website: www.pierreculot.com

Pictures: Pierre Culot (right) meets Bernard Leach in St. Ives in 1958; Pierre Culot, around 1981 (source catalogue Museum Bellerive, Zürich 1981); slabbuilt pot; four vases (source website artist); stèle (source website artist).