« Paysage » is the name of a candle jar from diptyque’s La Collection 34, which is manufactured by crafts-wo-men, in Portugal. The French word paysage means landscape. This name evokes the abstract panorama wrapped all around the candle jar.

« Paysage » has as many faces as there are copies of it. It is manufactured using the craft technique called “mixed clay”, which is still partly performed by hand: each copy is unique as it shows a different pattern of color variations, from grey blue to dense black.

Traditionally, the « mixed clay » technique will stir different clays for their various pigments, kneading the mixture for a long time, then letting it dry before baking it, and lastly polishing it. Only black and white pigments are used to make the candle jar Paysage.

The « mixed clay » technique does not create a surface decoration: the veins of tones that show on the surface are actually embedded in the body of the jar. Its shades of colors overlap, get diluted or stratified together, and are modulated and gradated as if a petrified motion.

This technique was invented by the Chinese potters between the 6^th and 8^th centuries. It was also called “neriage” (which means to mix in Japanese). But while the technique was developed in Asia in order to faithfully reproduce exact drawings, Europe has been mostly using it to produce a random aesthetic…

Hence Paysages…