- MAISON INTÈGRE
Bio
Since 2017, Maison Intègre has been based in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. We create bronze furniture and objects using the traditional lost wax casting technique. Each piece is made from natural materials and recycled metals. Our workshop now brings together around fifteen artisans with complementary skills, organized around regular and structured production.
In Burkina Faso, in a context of security crisis linked to terrorism, cultural and tourist exchanges have been significantly reduced. This situation has profoundly affected the activity of bronze artisans, historically linked to these exchanges, weakening their market opportunities and the transmission of their know-how. Maison Intègre has committed itself to supporting and promoting the bronze craft sector in Ouagadougou.
By imagining new applications for this living material, we want to take a new approach to its potential.
Through this work, Maison Intègre affirms the possibility of developing a sector of excellence in craftsmanship in Burkina Faso and demonstrates that cultural and creative industries can be levers for development, transmission, and growth.
In 2022, Maison Intègre created its own workshop in Ouagadougou to bring together the artisans with whom it has been collaborating since the project began. This space allows them to work together on a daily basis, crafting furniture and bronze objects. Designers and artists are regularly invited to take up residencies in Ouagadougou to develop projects in close collaboration with the artisans at the workshop. These periods spent on site are essential to the creative process and help to anchor each collaboration in the local area, practices and know-how.
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