To touch an object created by Barlet Soeurs is to make contact with intersecting histories of materials and families, of craftmanship and of the decorative arts. Just as the acts of filling a vase with flowers, eating from a plate, or sipping from a cup are as ancient and eternal as the human story, so too are generations of craftmanship, of material processes, and the ornamental impulse embedded in each piece made by Barlet Soeurs.

A rich diversity of materials and craft traditions cross paths at the sisters’ atelier in Saint-Symphorien-des-Bois, a site of creative activity committed to beauty and functionality. Here, the artistic talents and aesthetic sensibilities of Anne-Sophie and the industrious precision of Bénédicte meet with the history of fine woodworking of their ancestors: their carpenter father and uncle worked from the 1980s through to 2020, and their grandfather and great uncle before them, who established the atelier in 1937 as Barlet Frères. This generational echo of craftsmanship was further augmented in 2020, when Barlet Soeurs acquired a vast library of moulds from a Burgundian potter who had ended production, thus welcoming a chosen ancestry of local craftsmanship into their studio and practice.  

This care and concern for the bonds of kinship that inform their practice further articulates itself through a system of titling unique to Barlet Soeurs. Each vase and vessel carries the name of a family member, a collaborator, or a friend: vases named Ariane or Aimée, a lamp called Pierre. This personalisation of their creative production emphasises the importance of filiation and relation, drawing attention to the unique identity of each piece.