In her Paris studio near the Canal Saint-Martin, the founder of Blanche Patine, Cécile Viarouge, sells little antique treasures, cherry-picked from all corners of France and infused with a new life by her artistic hand. Her speciality lies in Terre de Fer tableware, a century-old manufacture that, thanks to Cécile, can now be found on the tables of a few Michelin-starred restaurants.
Coming from a family of scientists and medical professionals, Cécile Viarouge may seem like an unlikely fit for the fantastical world of art. Yet, with one look at her work, anyone would agree that she was born for it (although she likes to believe her artistic flair was passed down by French painter and poet Gaston Chaissac — who, she recently learned, had been the former inhabitant of…
