Poterie de Cliousclat is situated in a small hilltop village in Drôme, France, a region with a rich history of traditional pottery that dates back to the 10th century. Its workshop was rebuilt in 2014 after being listed as a historical monument, home to specific know-how and working methods. Today, it’s a hive of creativity, host to a small community of talented makers – currently four – with unique styles and processes. The uniting factor is a love and appreciation for colour and French techniques, which they put into practice by applying pre-made engobes and slips.

Old friends Ivan Pericoli and Benoît Astier de Villatte met at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, leading to the launch of Astier de Villatte in 1996. Since the beginning, they’ve been charmed with ideas of the imperfect, finding beauty in uneven glazes, dark pockmarks and subtle ripples. But these details only emphasise the craft tale behind each piece – stories that start with a single sheet of black terracotta clay extracted from Parisian quarries. They follow traditional Roman methods to bring each ‘dream object’ to life, shaping and inscribing each one with the potter’s initials and finishing with a high-shine white porcelain glaze.

Goyon-Chazeau is a French third-generation knife maker whose story began in 1953. Its signature, Cœur de Forge, alludes to the fact that it’s one of the last of its kind to produce full-forged table knives, which is no mean feat – the forge used is made from a round steel bar that’s heated until it merges, then pressed to obtain the final shape. But that isn’t the only impressive part of the design story, as each piece undergoes a meticulous manufacturing process of over 40 steps, from sharpening and manual finishing to ergonomics. The result? Designs made from rare, precious materials that’ll last a lifetime.