Exoticism and naturalism

Since 1947, the Jean Roger workshop has been creating art ceramics in keeping with the savoir-faire of "grand feu" earthenware. Three generations have succeeded one another to the present day, all committed to renewing a creativity that draws its inspiration from nature and artistic heritage. Its brightly colored glazes make for a unique style of ceramics that demands exacting standards and precision of gesture.

Before turning to ceramics, Jean Roger cultivated a passion for objets d'art, painting and antique furniture. At the age of 15, after leaving school, he bought a Renaissance table with his first salary. A happy omen for this lover of the arts, who 10 years later decided to leave his native Lot-et-Garonne to open a ceramics workshop in Paris. With meager savings, he set up shop on rue de la Verrerie in the Marais district, on the sixth floor of Henri IV's former Hôtel des Guards.

In 1952, he created the first candleholders, including the tulip candleholder, which was to become one of the company's signature models. It was through contact with his uncle, a theater decorator for the Opéra Garnier and the Casino de Paris, that Jean Roger discovered the atmosphere and euphoria of post-war Parisian nights, as evidenced by the operetta costumes featuring feathers, frills and silks.

The lightness and the gaiety of the costumes! This is what he sought to find with earthenware, a thick and heavy material. Nourished by his passion for the arts, he regularly visits Parisian museums, notably the Louvre, the Musée des Arts décoratifs and the Musée Cernuschi, whose ceramic collections became his main sources of inspiration. This is how he revisited the legendary models of the Strasbourg factory, such as the choux service (1953) or the artichoke range (1954), which made him known to Parisian and foreign decorators. In 1952, he exhibited at the Ateliers d'Art de France, the forerunner of the Maison et Objet show, which earned him the praise of professionals and decorators who flocked to his stand.

Around 1960, the studio became an art ceramics workshop. At the same time, at the request of an American decorator, Jean Roger revisits a frog modeled on the 18th-century Chinese Kangxi frog. It quickly became a signature model.

In 1968, after studying at the Ecole du Louvre, Jean Roger's son Jean-Jacques came to work alongside his father and in 1978, they set up their workshop on the Place des Vosges.

Jean Roger retired in 1992, and his son continued the business until 2007. Like his father, he has a keen interest in art history, and drawing on the know-how he has acquired over the years, he decided to take up trompe-l'œil decoration, which he applies to a wide range of lamps, vases and coffee tables. His imitations of lapis lazuli, faux marble, porphyry and malachite, in which he excels, attract a prestigious clientele including European and Middle Eastern royal courts, French embassies and Parisian palaces. His perfectionism led him to further explore enamels, their effects and a whole range of colors, from Sèvres blue to crimson red and Chinese yellow. New York designer John Boone admired his work and for over ten years commissioned a whole range of ceramics from him, distinguished by elegant colors and, in some cases, imposing sizes.

In 2010, his son François, a sommelier at the time, became convinced that this heritage and know-how should be perpetuated. He trained as a turner, inaugurating the first generation of turners in the Roger family. Jean-Jacques teaches him the rudiments of the trade, before reviving the models that were so successful in the 50s and 60s.

For his creations, François imbued himself with the naturalism and exoticism characteristic of the Jean Roger style, as illustrated by the Folies Bergères and seaweed ranges. He also introduced matte white enamel for the first time, and extended the range of colors to include frogs, artichokes and tulip candlesticks. Decorating boutiques, interior designers and architects were enthusiastic, and demand grew in France, the United States and Northern Europe.

In 2020, the workshop opened a second production site in southwest France, headed by Marguerite Roger.

Roseline Roger is responsible for the general management and development of the workshop.

Training and passing on the workshop's know-how are at the heart of tomorrow's challenges: keeping know-how alive and making it last is one of the workshop's missions for the coming years.

Today, the workshop employs eight people who work every day to create exceptional ceramics.