Didier Mutel

Intaglio engraver

A journey into a historic workshop

Rodin, Manet and Munch used to frequent this print shop
Didier first came to the workshop on a school work experience placement
He won the Prix Liliane Bettencourt Prize pour l'intelligence de la main in 2016

Didier Mutel is an intaglio engraver who continues a rich tradition of engraving, passed down by the masters of his workshop to their pupils since 1793. Didier arrived at the Paris workshop in 1988, and officially took over its management in 2008, before relocating it to the Jura mountains several years later. His artists’ books and prints are characterised by a constant search for innovation based on traditional engraving techniques and intaglio printing. He feels passionately that his work should take people on a journey. “I hope you will be surprised, a little awestruck when looking at my work. Opening a book is like passing through the door of the workshop,” he says.

Interview

Do you remember when you decided to take up engraving?: Yes, indeed! When I was eight years old. It was so clear to me then that my mother took me to the open days of art schools, and when I saw the engraving workshop of the Estienne School in Paris I thought it was amazing. I told myself that’s what I wanted to do.
Did you train under a master engraver?: There was someone in particular, the person who passed the workshop on to me, Pierre Lallier. He started at the workshop in 1962 and managed it from 1968 to 2008. In fact, all the people who ran the workshop did so for a very long time. In 200 years it changed hands just five or six times.
How are you influenced by tradition and innovation?: I would say they are the same thing. In the sense that tradition can be a driving force for extraordinary innovation. There is always a very strong link with what has gone before. The major challenge for the general public is to understand this link.
What do you love most about what you do?: Without a doubt, it’s the act of creating. And by that I mean the research that goes into it. Behind any finished work there are failures. But when a test print comes out of the press for the first time, it’s a magic moment.

Didier Mutel is a master artisan: he began his career in 1991 and he started teaching in 2003