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Explore Artisans Museums & Galleries Experience Itineraries About
© Caroline Besse
© Caroline Besse
© Caroline Besse
© Caroline Besse
© Caroline Besse

Caroline Besse

  • Decorative painter
  • Ivry-sur-Seine, France
  • Master Artisan
Caroline Besse Decorative painter
© Caroline Besse

Living and breathing colour

  • • Caroline has invented her very own painting medium
  • • She considers her body to be her primary tool
  • • She works with interior decorators as well as private clients

Through her decorative panels, Caroline Besse explores the sensitivity and intensity of colour. With her unique mastery, this artisan-painter has created her own medium with which to paint, a substance that combines the fluidity of Chinese ink with crushed minerals, creating a rich and luminous texture. After studying Van Der Kelen's decorative painting techniques, Caroline trained in Chinese calligraphy and ink painting under a Chinese master. She encountered crushed minerals through Buddhist painting, while Nihonga, traditional Japanese paintings, form the basis of her craft.

Read the full interview

Works

  • © Caroline Besse
  • © Caroline Besse
  • © Caroline Besse
  • © Caroline Besse
  • © Caroline Besse
Photo: © Caroline Besse
Green wall panel

This green wall panel is painted with crushed malachite and calcite on Japanese paper. Caroline Besse has created a rich, vibrant texture upon which the light bounces from grain to grain.

Height 1 cm
Width 2 cm

Photo: © Caroline Besse
Staircase decoration, Paris

The staircase of this Parisian residence is adorned with 27 handcrafted panels by Caroline Besse. The panels were crafted using powdered tiger eye, calcite, golden grenat and magnetite on Japanese paper.

Height 3 cm

Photo: © Caroline Besse
Sun

Caroline Besse handcrafted this circular wall panel using gold leaf on Japanese paper. The gold leaf is patinated and enhanced with soft colours from crushed minerals.

Diameter 120 cm

Photo: © Caroline Besse
Van Cleef & Arpels, Place Vendôme, Paris

This curved wall piece, composed of five panels, is handcrafted from crushed malachite, calcite and mica on Japanese paper. Light glides over the mica powder and creates soft lightning-like shapes across the wall.

Height 2 cm
Width 4 cm

Photo: © Caroline Besse
Gold leaf panel

This panel has been handcrafted from gold leaf, mica and ink on Japanese paper.

Height 2 cm
Width 1 cm

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