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Françoise BARTOLI

Pottery studio

Visits : Open all year round.

Regions : Dui Sevi-Dui Sorru - Cruzini - Cinarca

Categories : Craftsmen

Passion and transmission

In 1980, Marie-Françoise Bartoli set up her artistic craft studio in Sagone, a small and peaceful seaside resort, which was once one of Corsica’s main towns.  The small gulf of Sagone has a rich but tortured history - the ruins of an ancient Romanesque cathedral and a sixth-century basilica are testament to the glorious religious past of the diocese.

When you go into Marie-Françoise’s scrub garden you’re greeted by the sound of lapping water from in a nearby fountain – it’s like entering another world. The garden is like the clay that Marie-Françoise enjoys handling and moulding to give life to it.

“I enjoy meeting other people and making sure that my studio is a place where people feel as though they have been expected,” she says gently.

Marie-Françoise’s pieces emit light and strength. She produces both functional and decorative pottery, and her turquoise blues, flamboyant reds and other vibrant colours blend with astonishingly pure forms – twisted pieces of wood and swirling sculptures, which are doubtless inspired by the nearby shores, and everything displays a certain Chinese influence.