The Foundry

BARTHELEMY ART: A FOUNDRY WHERE THE DOORS ARE WIDE OPEN

This foundry is the kind of place where you are likely to come across artist/staff duos diligently working together in mutual respect, and where the people you see are likely to be smiling. You’ll meet as many employees as you’ll meet artists.

You may spot a sculptor wearing the Barthélémy Art T-shirt, because he feels at home there. No space is off limits to him. He has the choice to entrust entirely his finishes to an employee, or to work together with him. Throughout the whole process, the service is à la carte.

The foundry workers are the beating heart of a company which equally respects and cares about the work of a renowned sculptor or the creation of an amateur sculptor. The Barthélémy Foundry is much more than an artist’s studio, it is your studio.

THE BARTHELEMY FOUNDRY: AN OLD STORY

Widely recognized in France and beyond for the quality of its services, the kind of relationships it fosters with the artists and its cutting-edge modernity, the Fonderie Barthélémy has been operating for 30 years.

Originally a funeral supplies family business, it has been run by François Bouis since 1985.
After developing the art department in the early 80s, he starts working for designers such as Garouste and Bonetti and the “Néotu stable of artists”.
In 1996, Pierre Abattu takes the helm of the ship, alongside François Bouis, who then becomes CEO of the company.

The reputation of the business is further built upon this competent managing duo, surrounded by a fully committed team.

3D printing makes an entrance into the Foundry in the wake of the digital revolution with the awareness of what it can offer sculptors. As soon as 2014, in close collaboration with Crest’s 8FabLab, mettre un lien? the Barthélémy Foundry starts developing digital tools. Traditional trades and modern technology get along well, each contributing to the same objective: making a piece of art which fully satisfies its creator.

THE FOUNDRY’S GEOGRAPHY

Located in Crest, in the Drôme department, in the Auvergne-Rhone Alpes region, the Barthélémy Foundry is a two-hour ride away from Marseilles and an hour and a half away from Lyons. It can be reached by the A7 freeway (an exit lies 15 km away). The Valence train station (30 min away) is two hours and ten minutes away from Paris on the TGV.

The Foundry is organized into 10 spaces
Molds with the Pierre Revol Atelier
3D
Wax
Wax retouching
Plaster molds
Casting
Finishing
Mounting
Patination
Administration