Do you dream of tasting Corsican art de vivre? This summer, come and meet the artisans who guard the ancestral know-how of the Island of Beauty! Potters in love with nature, manufacturers of cosmetics and essential oils with magic knowledge of maquis, blacksmiths or cabinetmakers with an artistic heart ... All draw their inspiration from the richness of a terroir with strong character. Come along behind the scenes of their workshops and become privy to the secrets of Corsican artisans!
Wood makes the artists
Olive wood, juniper, cork oak and heather, in all shapes and colors, transformed into objects as precious as jewelry. Upon entering his factory in Fozzano, you'll quickly understand that Jef Nicolier is in love with this material which inspired the name of his workshop: Legnu Nustrale ("local wood" in Corsican). A passion he loves to share: before your eyes, he'll give birth to a pen! But you also have to hear him tell the story of heather in Corsica, which has traditionally been made into pipes since the 19th century. A seasoned pipe-maker, he constantly invents new creations. The latest: pipes from the asphodel stems that bloom all around his beautiful mountain in Corsica.
Essential oils with local flavors
Between June and August, yellow flowers dot the hills of the Prunelli valley: the immortelle, the star of the Corsican maquis! This is the ideal time to visit the Maison des Senteurs, where Paul and Jean-Pierre Caux, two brothers passionate about aromatherapy, have been producing organic essential oils for 25 years. Green myrtle, rosemary, pistachio mastic or even dwarf juniper—there's a guaranteed olfactory spectacle at the distillery, where the delicate operation of transforming the essences takes place before your eyes. After you're dazed, all that remains is to inhale the irresistable fragrances of the bottles: the two brothers are inexhaustible in their mastery.
From olives to cosmetics: Corsican beauty secrets
Do you want to unravel Corsica's beauty secrets? Meet us in the enchanted Realia estate on the Costa Verde for a true sensory experience. If everything started from a home olive grove of three hectares- the original idea was to use olive oil to create beauty products - Muriel Crestey's, agricultural engineer, project expanded leading to the creation of a real 100% natural cosmetic farm. Aromatic gardens, a laboratory for the extraction and transformation of plants, demonstrations of the harvesting and distillation of wild plants...the scents of local flora will intoxicated you, before you succumb to temptation: the farm also offers a treatment area!
Pottery in the colors of maquis
Do you know the different techniques for making pottery? You'll learn it all at the Pratu Pottery in San-Nicolao, where Thiébault and Aline bring to life wonderful stoneware objects, rustic and contemporary, with their magic fingers. Turning or molding, you'll never tire of seeing the shapes emerge, little by little, and adorn themselves with the nuances of the surrounding scrub: the colors are made up of minerals, metallic oxides, and ashes of plants like olive trees, eucalyptus, lavender and acacia. The enamels "are dark like night and clear like limpid water, they reflect all the nature that surrounds me", sums up Aline. We think he's being rather modest: to see the creations, from table services, perfume burners to pitchers, you must also add a good dose of creativity!
A knife as a work of art
If you see a knife is an ordinary object, easy to consign to the kitchen to forget, you will quickly change your mind when you visit Laurent Bellini's cutlery in Vero. This craftsman has been reinventing the Corsican knife tradition for 25 years. Primarily designed as a tool, this object with agro-pastoral roots was also part of a rite of passage: at the age of 10, each boy used to receive his first knife. Today, the tool has become an object of art. If you stil need convincing, just look at Laurent Bellini's forging knives or styluses, all designed as unique pieces!
Laurent Bellini Coutelier Visite avec Entreprise et Découverte Tourisme Prunelli
Blown glass, as precious as a jewel
As far back as he can remember, David Campana has always blown glass: from the age of nine, he was hard at work, observing his father in the family glassworks of Feliceto in Balagne. Glasses screwed onto the eyes, he continues to perpetuate this ancestral art to create bubble glass, glass paste or glass included with 24 karat gold, silver or precious materials. This is meticulous work that can be followed step by step, from the incandescent fireball to the birth of a delicate jewel. Among his achievements, he has made a gold encrusted pendant in the shape of a guitar for a flamenco singer and a paperweight for the Prince of Monaco!
Verrerie Corse Video: David Campana of the Verrerie Corse Visit with Entreprise et découverte
Find out more:
- Prepare your trip to Corsica - Full list of the workshops that are part of Entreprise et découverte - Also read: 8 Corsican specialties to whet your appetite
By Anne-Claire Delorme
Globetrotting journalist anneclairedelorme@yahoo.fr
