My passion for beads found on the markets in Abidjan when I was a child, led me into working with glass and exploring its many different techniques: hot and cold. Glass is a versatile medium that holds infinite possibilities. It offers transparency and opacity, plasticity and hardness, softness and roughness… It allows beauty and emotions to pass through it … it calls for touching and feeling …

It is that duality in glass that I like to explore as it is a reflection of my roots: both African and European, of what I show and hold inside, of my homes in Belgium and Italy …

My work is rooted in my personal history and my childhood in Africa. It is very intimate, yet universal.

BIO – Education 
Glassblowing 

• 2013 – Davide Salvadore, Murano, IT
• 2012 – Yann Oulevay at Musée-Atelier du verre de Sars Poteries, FR
• 2012- Giancarlo Signoretto at Abate Zanetti, Murano, IT
• 2011 – 3 days individual course with Dominique Marcadé, FR

Lampworking, beadmaking :

• 2008 – Larry Scott
• 2008  – Kate Fowle Meleney
• 2006 – Kristina Logan
• 2006 – Jean-Pierre Baquère
• 2005 – Fréderic  Marey & Nadine Piskaldo

Other :

• 1997 – Business Engineer, ICHEC (Institut des Hautes Etudes Commerciales) – Brussels, BE
• 2003 – Gemmologist, HRD (Hoge Raad voor Diamant) – Antwerp, BE
• Languages spoken: French, Dutch, English, German
• Member of l’Association des Perliers d’Art de France, promoting Glass beads as a form of Art
• Member of VerriBelGlass,  Association for the promotion of contemporary glass art in Belgium
• Member of La Page Blanche –The Blank Page,  Belgian association promoting contemporary Crafts

Competitions 

• 2015: received a grant from la Fondation Roi Baudouin, Plateforme pour l’Education et le Talent
• 2014: selected for the exhibition ‘RAD:Radical in Art and Design’ – ISGB (International Society of Glass Beadmakers – USA)
• 2012 : selected for the exhibition ‘Indelible’. – ISGB (International Society of Glass Beadmakers – USA)
• 2008: finalist in ‘Celebrating Beads , the  journey of… ‘ from the Bead Museum DC Washington – USA

Exhibitions (selection) 

• Oct 2016, Art Shopping Woluwe, Brussels, BE
• Sep 2016, Uptown Design September, Sofitel Louise, Brussels, BE
• Jul – Aug 2015, Festival BalCo, Galerie Balastra, Balâtre, BE
• Apr – May 2015, Galerie Carpe Diem, Tielt, BE
• Jun – Nov 2014, ‘Parures et bijoux : Reflets du verre’, Musée du verre de Dordives, FR
• Aug  2014,’ Bridges’, avec le collectif RAM 8, Seoul , KOREA
• Apr 2014, Galerie Art Nomade, avec le collectif RAM 8, Bruxelles, BE
• Apr 2014, ouverture de la Galerie ‘Shuttered Dreams’ à Murano, Venise, IT
• May 2013, ‘Talents 9’, Galerie du Crabe, Jodoigne, BE
• Oct 2012, BAAF, Brussels Accessible Art Fair, BE
• July 2012, Galerie Artine, Oostende, BE
• Mar 2012, la Samanna, Terres basses, St-Martin, Antilles, FR
• Feb 2012, Galerie Céladon,  Marseille, FR
• Jan 2012, Art Event, Galerie Balastra, Namur, BE
• Dec 2011 – Jan 2012, ‘De la Perle à la Flamme’,  Ateliers d’Art de France, Paris, FR
• April 2011, Galerie le Shore, Grand-Case, St-Martin, Antilles FR
• Feb 2011, Foire Internationale d’Art contemporain, Le Sablon – Bruxelles, BE
• May 2010, ’Flammes et Fusion’,  l’AFEDAP, Paris, FR
• May 2009, ’Madame Butterfly’, Musée de Berck sur Mer, FR
• Apr 2008, ’Arts Premiers’, galerie SEMA, Paris, FR
• Nov 2007, galerie Art Présent, Paris, FR
• Jul-Oct 2007, ’Bulles de Perles’, musée-atelier du verre, Sars Poteries, FR
• May 2007, galerie Jenny du Marais, Paris FR
• Sep 2006 – Jan 2007, ’A message to Kobe’, Kobe Lampwork Glassmuseum JP
• Jun 2006 – Jan 2007, ’Perles d’écume’, Musée de Berck sur Mer, FR

Publications

• 2008, ’Verre et Flamme – création de perles de verre’, éd. Eyrolles, p.31, p.125