Robert & Jean Cloutier (1930 - 2008)

Robert and Jean Cloutier, born in Paris in 1930, were twin French ceramists and sculptors whose shared career produced one of the most poetic bodies of work in postwar French ceramics. After training in Meaux and working in major Parisian studios, they opened their own workshop in 1955, creating highly decorative yet functional pieces animated by human, animal, and mythological forms. Their distinctive style combined strong sculptural imagination with restrained but vivid color, notably the internationally celebrated “Cloutier Red” glaze. Alongside their ceramic production, they also worked on interior architectural commissions for prestigious clients such as Galeries Lafayette, Air France, and the Maison de l’Iran. Their work, exhibited in France and abroad, remains celebrated for its originality, dreamlike quality, and lasting contribution to 20th-century French decorative arts.