Gustave TIFFOCHE (1930-2011) Speckled enameled stoneware pitcher, signed with the GT monogram on the heel. Height Height : 21,5 cm After working for sixteen years as a draftsman, model-maker and designer at the Saint-Nazaire shipyards, Gustave Tiffoche decided to devote himself to ceramics. Also a painter, he had been introduced to the pottery technique in 1961 during a course with the Pierlot couple at Château de Ratilly. He built two kilns himself, one gas-fired and the other wood-fired, at his home in Guérande. His wife Sylvette was in charge of production, enameling and firing. The Tiffoche couple sometimes took turns working through the night to feed the wood-fired kiln to reach the 1,300-degree temperature required to fire the stoneware. A distinction was made between multiple pieces, monogrammed "GT", and single pieces, bearing the signature "Tiffoche" sometimes accompanied by the monogram. The former were utilitarian pieces. The latter, of which we present several pieces, bear witness to the artist's creativity and research, at the crossroads of pottery and sculpture. From 1977 onwards, Gustave Tiffoche took on monumental commissions, such as the fountain for the IUT in Saint-Nazaire in 1981 and that for the Parc de la Beaujoire in Nantes in 1987. It was also in this year that he was named Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and began teaching ceramics at the Ecole d'Art Plastique de Saint-Nazaire.