The lighting workshop, Lamps for Boisbuchet, run by Marco Zanuso Jr, is in its fourth day. Having spent yesterday away in Limoges I had some catching up to do. The brief was to create something simple, original, and beautiful. (Easy then.) Initially we were tasked with drawing as many ideas as we could in three hours. After a group discussion the tutors selected a design to be carried through. So today I have been trying to do just that. This is what happened:

Here are some of the things that other people are making:

With one third of the group at the Porcelain school in Limoges today, and everyone else quietly concentrating on their own projects, it was a very calm day, apart from one little incident. The post-lunch entertainment was provided by the Boisbuchet staff trying to recapture two escaping horses. Eventually a combination of baguettes and apples persuaded them to stand still until the farmer appeared to coax them back into the field and the fence was repaired.

The post-dinner entertainment every evening so far has been a sort of show-and-tell from the workshop leaders – Andrey Bartenev, Sam Baron, Marco Zanuso. Last night was the turn of workshop participants and Boisbuchet staff (most of whom began their affair with Boisbuchet by attending as participants) to show portfolios, if they so wanted. Most are still students but some are working designers – throughout the standard was generally very high (for many a week at Boisbuchet was first prize in a design competition), incredibly diverse, all greatly inspiring; I think the chance to meet and share ideas with other designers from all over the world is one of the greatest strengths of the Boisbuchet concept.