我的時代，
我自己的聲音
茱麗葉的工作室，離她的曾祖父François Décorchemont十九世紀的工作室，只有幾分鐘的距離，離她的叔父Antoine Leperlier的工作室，也不遠，即使她自己現在的工作室，也留著她的離世的父親Étienne Leperlier的許多作品，然而，茱麗葉在接受訪問，問到她最欣賞的玻璃藝術家，以上所有父輩，以及祖輩的名字，她都不會提及。
茱麗葉，在這個法國玻璃藝術世家成長，她自己說，她極想擺脫這個世家的聯想。因此，很長的時間，她不碰玻璃藝術。尤其是這個在她的生活裡最熟習的玻璃工藝，Pâte-de-verre。
Pâte-de-verre，這個最繁瑣最折磨人的玻璃工藝，它需要雕塑的創作能力，它需要一個接一個工匠化的純熟工藝能力，需要窯爐鑄造的知識，還要求高度耐性的冷加工的研磨拋光能力，這樣一個接一個的挑戰，回應給創作的人，經常不是什麼創作的喜悅，而是無休無止的挫折。
沒有熱情，不可能用Pâte-de-verre的工藝創作。
茱麗葉不論如何強調自己多麼希望擺脫她頭上百年玻璃藝術世界的影子，我們慶幸如她自己說的：「玻璃藝術像是病毒一樣，早已經潛伏在她的體內」。因為，世界上沒有人，像她一樣「生於斯，長於斯」，見識了法國玻璃藝術最輝煌的歷史，對於別人，那是玻璃藝術史，是一件一件的里程，對於茱麗葉而言；是她必須擺脫的影子，是她必須跨越的障礙。
這個「必須」，成為茱麗葉積極的動力。因為無論她說她在乎或是她不在乎；她的姓，都叫Leperlier。
今天，你看到的是一個不停止的不斷的探索，其中充滿了各式各樣的疑問，不確定，一件一件作品，自己問著問題，自己給了答案，自己又開始了另一個探索。然而，玻璃藝術的世界，就如是自然而然地展開了一個新的時代，有了一個新的聲音。
另一個時代的思考，另一個時代的美學，從一百年的法國玻璃的藝術的傳統價值觀裡解脫，不顧一切的用自己的眼睛看世界，用自己的技法；無論多麼的艱難，堅持面對自己。
Pâte-de-verre，一個新的可能，一個新的簽名，
Juliette Leperlier。
MY TIME, MY VOICE
Juliette Leperlier’s studio is but a few minutes away from her great-grandfather François Décorchemont’s 19th century studio and not far from her uncle Antoine Leperlier’s current studio. And within its walls are reminders of her late father Étienne Leperlier. Yet when asked to name the glass artists she most admires, absent from her list are the aforementioned names.
Juliette grew up within this family of French glass masters. As a young artist she distanced herself from her heritage, rejecting glass, especially Pâte-de-verre.
Pâte-de-verre is a complex and punishing glass technique that demands the artist to act as sculptor and master craftsperson, to know the workings of a kiln and to have tremendous patience through the final cold-working and polishing stages. Challenge after challenge, it has been known to bring the artist more frustration than joy.
One must be deeply passionate about Pâte-de-verre to want to take it on.
Although Juliette attempted to cast aside the shadow of her family’s legacy, she also acknowledged, “Glass art is like a disease that has long lay dormant in my body.” There is no one else in the world like her, born and raised into these circumstances, a personal witness to the glory of French glass art. To others, this is simply glass history but to Juliette, it is her legacy, her predecessors and an obstacle she must transcend.
This “must” is what drives her because at the end of the day, she can not escape her name – Leperlier.
Today, you bear witness to an artist’s lifelong exploration through glass. Each piece proffers a question and an answer which then leads to another in a never ending cycle. And through this, glass art has inadvertently been ushered into a new era, speaking a new language.
Juliette Leperlier has released the philosophy and aesthetics of French glass art from its weighty past. Looking at the world with her own eyes, in her own style, Juliette looks to herself for the answers.
Pâte-de-verre – a new possibility, a new name: Juliette Leperlier.
Chang Yi, Curator
