Sophie Leimbacher

After training in a business school, I worked for several years in France and abroad in sales and marketing.

It was by chance, during a bicycle trip, that I discovered pottery. Immediately fascinated by the work of the land, I began to devote myself to it as a hobby. Leisure quickly becomes an obsession to the point of negotiating a sabbatical. It was during this period that I created my company "Fenua Ceramics".

Granddaughter of a restaurateur and imbued with Vietnamese and French cultures, I have always liked to invite my loved ones around a warm table.
Creating pieces to set beautiful tables was definitely a heartfelt choice.

My engagement

Being a potter is a committed act, beyond the pleasure I have in creating pieces. It is indeed a commitment to a simpler and sober life, with a rhythm that respects that of the earth. My ambition is to live from my art, keeping a process of creation and artisanal production.

Pottery is also a craft that requires patience: making plates, for example, requires between 1 to 2 months of work on average, depending on the season.

In a society where everything is always going faster, living to the rhythm (of work) of the earth and being able to share this experience through my creations is a key challenge of my activity.

My ceramic journey

Self-taught when I started in 2021, I decided to follow a full-time training. I have been preparing since September 2022 the CAP filming at the Atelier des Arts Céramiques in Tours. At the same time, I trained in the search for high temperature enamels with Patrick Buté, Marc Uzan, Catherine Lebaron and Véronique Depondt .

Finally, since September 2022, I have been training in the plaster technique with Céline Turpin , herself trained at the Manufacture de Sèvres. This technique, rigorous and demanding, allows me to create unique pieces from my own drawings and that cannot be made by turning or modeling.

The workshop in pictures