Hors Series gathers reflective texts born in the workshop — fragments about material, experimentation, mistakes, and what happens between intention and outcome. These writings are not tutorials, but observations following the evolution of the work.
A Maker’s Truth About Dust and Breath There are mornings when the workshop is quiet. Not an empty silence.A living silence. The kind where every gesture feels more present.Where the sound of mixing, the brushing of hands, the weight of material become almost… voices. And yet, within that calm space, something invisible moves. Dust. A […]
Fragment 5 — What My Hands Learned from Cooling What My Hands Learned from Cooling. Today, while working on one of my pots,I paused. Not because something was wrong —but because I started wonderingabout the air around my hands. The workshop was calm.About fifteen degrees. Warm enough for my plants to rest through winter.Cool enough […]
Fragment 4 — The Day I Stopped Correcting There was a day I noticed something strange. My hands were still moving,but my mind was no longer trying to fix. No checklist.No mental image of what the surface should become. Just the object in front of me. Until then, correcting felt responsible.Smoothing here.Adjusting there.Erasing what didn’t […]
Fragment 3 — When Imperfection Became the Goal I didn’t set out to make imperfect objects. At first, I was doing what everyone does.Following recipes.Correcting edges.Trying to make the surface behave. Each adjustment felt like progress.Each correction felt necessary. But something was missing. The more I tried to control the result,the quieter the material became. […]
When I add pigments, the problem is time.More than a month before seeing what it really becomes.No quick correction.No immediate decision. I don’t want a color that reads as added.Something laid on top.White cement is very reactive, but the logic of dosage is still complicated.Looking for a so-called natural color remains the best option. So […]
Fragment 1 — When Recipe Fades In this fragment, I reflect on a moment when experimentation slowly pulled me away from the recipe — and how the material responded. At the beginning, I followed the recipe.The pots were solid. Predictable. They held. As I made more, curiosity slowly took over.I began to adjust.Less cement.More sand.More […]
My name is Jacques, a Quebec artisan dedicated to the art of hypertufa.
Each piece I create is handmade, durable, and inspired by the natural textures and beauty of the outdoors — making every pot truly one of a kind.
Jacques
