Vitrailliste aux mille et une facettes
How to live from your passion in the middle of Livradois? Marie-Paule Dauphin stained glass artist in Auzelles, has the art of assembling stained glass and making himself known.
Leaving everything to come true, far from the hustle and bustle of the city, in a Safe Haven lost in the countryside… Indeed, if many will spend their lives dreaming of casting off, Marie-Paule Dauphin is much more pragmatic. Question of temperament.
“You have to get started, after everything fits together”, assures the one who has recently led a new life, in the heart of Livradois.
Fully installed in the small village of Auzelles near Cunlhat for two years with her husband, the former event manager at the Eiffel Tower in Paris has therefore become a stained glass artist.
A longtime passion
“You have to go back to 2006, at the time I wanted to change a tile in the bathroom. I thought a stained glass window in this period house would look cool. Going around the craftsmen I found it excessively expensive so I decided to make it myself, ”recalls the 58-year-old former executive.
After a few lessons, Marie-Paule discovered a passion, “I never stopped working again”.
In the workshop attached to her house in the heart of the village of Auzelles, opposite the Saint-Blaise church, Marie-Paule has offered herself a choice place to work. Facing the resinous immensity that looms as far as the eye can see, she takes advantage of the natural light projected through a large window, to create her stained glass windows.
Overlooking the work, the inexhaustible craftsman is then more silent. Concentrated, she explains with the same meticulousness employed in her gestures, the stages of her work.
“I start with a drawing and then create a template. A kind of sketch on which the different parts that will make up the stained glass are drawn, ”she explains.
The Tiffany Method
With a sure gesture, she will then "weaken" the glass with the help of a diamond, following the curves of the pieces of the template.
"At this precise moment, it's the glass that speaks because when cut, there is a characteristic noise that we can distinguish over time," she reveals.
Last step: a copper headband will cover each part of the puzzle which will be assembled with tin. “The Tiffany method”, explains Marie-Paule.
Eiffel Tower (of course) but also animal or vegetal forms, in painting or jewelry: Marie-Paule Dauphin works on inspiration but also and above all according to the taste of others...
Because to exist in the depths of the Livradois in 2020 when you are a stained glass artist, it is better to stay away from the cliché of the solitary or even misunderstood artist. And also as a former event manager, Marie-Paule understood this very well.
"I would be rue des Gras in Clermont Ferrand, people would see the shop and come in, not here", summarizes the stained glass artist who uses almost instinctively. All the communication tools made available to promote and promote its activity.
Inexhaustible here too in an area she knows like the back of her hand, Marie-Paule Dauphin suddenly puts on the business manager's apron and reveals her action plan.
Toilets and social networks
Social networks, member of the Tuscany of Auvergne or the Route of trades… It also diversifies its activities (tea room and bed and breakfast in the town centre) into a coherent whole.
Everything seems thought out to the smallest detail. "I installed the toilets of the tea room in my stained glass workshop so that consumers can discover my creations", she laughs.
The seduction operation, which is as rational as it is cobbled together, seems to be bearing fruit. For 2 years, the craftsman has already sold 250 creations, not counting jewelry.
The Eiffel Tower is already a long way off. And it is without regret, for the stained glass artist.
