Why it belongs in ORBIS
Glassworks founded in 1956 in Biot by engineer-ceramist Eloi Monod, who turned the trapped-air flaw glassblowers usually avoid into the workshop's signature bubbled glass (verre bulle); holds France's living-heritage EPV label.
La Verrerie de Biot was founded in 1956 by Eloi Monod, an engineer and ceramist trained at the Ecole de Sevres who set out to revive traditional Provencal glassmaking. His central innovation was what became known as 'bubbled glass' (verre bulle): where trapped air bubbles are normally considered a defect in glassblowing, Monod worked out how to control the effect deliberately, turning it into the workshop's signature aesthetic. The technique marked what is generally described as a renewal of Provence's glassmaking tradition. Since 1956, Verrerie de Biot's master glassblowers have continued producing mouth-blown bubbled glass in the town of Biot, on the Cote d'Azur, and the workshop holds France's 'Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant' label.