Was there a key moment that inspired you to start in this craft?
The key moment was seeing an exhibition of simple samples of feather work. I saw them as if they were impressionist paintings. This Proustian experience revived in me what we feel when we are kids, when we discover a beautiful feather on the beach and see it as a unique treasure.
What techniques are distinctive to your work?
I am fascinated by the structure of the feather itself, I had the idea of working with it in the form of a pigmentary powder and invented a flocking technique that allows me, while transforming it, to highlight its textural and coloured properties: its brilliance, its matte, its iridescences.
© Oettinger Davidoff
In what way is your craft linked to the territory?
Feather art is intercultural. It has spread throughout the world over the centuries. It cannot be confined to one place. Rather than being confined to one territory, I want to open up and travel the "feather route" – equivalent to the silk route – to meet my peers and discover their know-how.
What do you enjoy most about your profession?
Being in my studio, away from the world, elaborating, creating, shaping, repeating gestures endlessly, leads me into a meditative state. This inner journey allows me to open up to the world and to participate in the universality of emotions.