Pascal Oudet

Woodturner

©Pascal Oudet

©Lionel Pagès

©Pascal Oudet

A discovery that changed his life

Pascal turns wood so thin it almost looks like lace
He is the only artisan in France to master this turning technique
He won the Grand Prix de la Création de la Ville de Paris

Pascal first worked as an electronics engineer, and discovered woodturning quite by chance in a company-organised woodworking workshop. Pascal felt an immediate affinity for this technique and after a few courses started to work as a woodturner while continuing his career in electronics. As the years followed, woodturning progressively became his main activity, and he later left his engineering career to dedicate himself solely to woodturning. “What interested me from the beginning was working with woods that had a very strong grain,” he says. This led Pascal to accidentally discover a unique technique of working the wood to expose its grain, a technique that took him six years to perfect.

Interview

©Lionel Pagès

Are your pieces very delicate?: They seem much more delicate than they are. When people look at them, they often have the impression that if they blow on them they will fall apart. But, when I put a piece in their hands, they discover that it can be held. The fibres of the wood intertwine, which strengthens it.
Why do you turn green wood?: Traditionally, dry wood is turned, but I work with wet (green) wood, which I find easier to work with. It lends itself to being turned finely. The disadvantage is that I need to anticipate how the materials will deform, how they will behave. The material will always do things it should not.
Where do you draw inspiration from?: What brought me to this work was really the search for natural erosion. I draw inspiration from wood that is completely bleached. When we go for a walk in the mountains sometimes we see old trees, whitened by the weather, the snow, the sun, the rain and everything.
What do you enjoy most about your work?: Engaging with this natural material, which is always different. In 2018, I made 70 pieces for a big client with 70 pieces of wood. It was great that no two pieces were the same, even if I used 50 pieces from the same tree. The material is always different.

Pascal Oudet is a master artisan: he began his career in 2005 and he started teaching in 2008