Excerpts from pages 16 and 17 of the program of the Atelier du Livre de Mariemont available here:
EXHIBITION EXTENSIONS OF THE IMAGINATION
Grégoire Vigneron Laureate 2023
- Bookbinding design research grant an initiative of the Mariemont “Atelier du Livre”.
- Hainaut Prize for Arts and Crafts.
Accompanied by Anne Janssens and Alain Deguide (Bagatelles Créations)
Special mention from the jury 2023 Hainaut Prize for Arts and Crafts.
From June 22nd to September the 1st of 2024.
A collaboration between the Mariemont Atelier du Livre and
the Office des Métiers d’art de la Province de Hainaut (Craftsmanship Office of the Hainaut Province)
Musée royal de Mariemont (Royal Museum of Mariemont) Welcome Hall.
In 2023, Grégoire Vigneron was awarded the “Bookbinding design research grant” enabling him to complete a promising investigation into hook and key paper bookbindings. The Paperoko and Paperoŝlo bookbindings, the result of over 10 years of reflection and technical experimentation, are innovative and entirely self-supporting.
They require no material other than paper and allow for the addition or removal of signatures without compromising the structure of the book block.
The formal discoveries made during his journey also led him to question the boundary between art and craftsmanship, between the technical and the aesthetic, the functional and the sculptural. The technique then transcends the framework of the book to become a sculpture unfolding in space and playing with light.
This work on an innovative piece earned him the Hainaut Prize for Arts and Crafts, where his work was presented at the Orangery of the Château de Seneffe in 2023.
Building on this recognition, the Mariemont “Atelier du Livre” and the Craftsmanship Office of the Hainaut wanted to honor his entire body of work with a summer exhibition at the Royal Museum of Mariemont. Visitors will have the opportunity to discover the personality of the laureate and appreciate his unique journey between fine craftsmanship and paper design.
During this event, the “glasssmith” work of Anne Janssens and Alain Deguide will also be presented, who received a special mention from the jury of the Hainaut Crafts Prize. Appropriating the centuries-old tradition of glass bead creation in their Bagatelles Créations workshop in Saint-Vaast, they work with contemporary materials and methods to produce distinctly modern jewelry.
The exhibition will be punctuated by moments of meetings, guided tours, a workshop with Grégoire Vigneron, as well as the press release of the technical manual dedicated to the two techniques developed by the bookbinder (co-edition Atelier du Livre / Éditions Esperluète).
