Residency brief

Resulting from the merger between the Mobilier national and the Cité de la Céramique – Sèvres & Limoges, the National Manufactures were established on January 1, 2025, to promote the excellence of French craftsmanship and highlight the richness of both tangible and intangible heritage through more than 53 artistic crafts practiced within its manufactures and workshops.

Supporting crafts and creation since the 17th century, the Mobilier national's mission is to ensure the conservation and restoration of its world-unique collections, to perpetuate and transmit exceptional craftsmanship. As a major heritage site, the institution is also a key player in contemporary creation and the promotion of French decorative arts. Resolutely focused on the future, the Mobilier national is one of the founding members of the Campus of Excellence for crafts and design - Paris, the Gobelins manufactures, launched in 2020. Through its role, it demonstrates the vitality of artistic creation and contemporary design.

Since 1740, Sèvres-Manufacture has preserved, enriched, and revealed a world-unique material and immaterial heritage. Founded in Vincennes, the porcelain manufacture was transferred to Sèvres and became royal under the patronage of its first patron, Louis XV. Since the 18th century, the greatest artists, from François Boucher to Rodin, passing through Jean Arp, Alechinsky, Ettore Sottsass, Louise Bourgeois, or Giuseppe Penone, have succeeded each other to create new forms and decorations. Today, with one hundred and ten ceramists exercising there and mastering around thirty trades, the Manufacture is a major player in the artistic scene, design, and decorative arts. This landmark of creation engages in dialogue with the National Museum of Ceramics and its archives conceived as a source of inspiration for the artists and artisans of the Manufacture.

This residency program allows an Indian designer or artisan working in the field of contemporary creation to immerse themselves in the ecosystem of French crafts. The residency will serve to inspire the laureate's research in the field of French craftsmanship and design, enabling them to develop and realize their future project.

This inspiration residency is conceived as an exploration, a field investigation that inspires and creates connections. Its focus is not on a specific form or material output (unlike a production residency), but rather on discovering the French crafts scene and human exchanges around French and Indian craftsmanship. It is understood that both the workshops of the Mobilier national and Sèvres cannot, however, be used for the material fabrication of the project.

Through visits to the manufactures and workshops of the Manufactures nationales – Sèvres & Mobilier national, provision of technical resources, meetings with professionals, artistic guidance, visits to emblematic institutions, and travel to regions, the laureate will be fully inspired by French techniques, craftsmanship, aesthetics, and spirit so that their project can mature and materialize.