Why it belongs in ORBIS
Poterie Artisanale G. Wehrling et Fille has worked at Soufflenheim, a village of potters in northern Alsace, since 1980. Gerard and Marie-Antoinette Wehrling founded it, and their daughter Peggy joined in the 1990s. The workshop began with a collection of cake moulds and baeckeoffe terrines copied from older Alsatian models. Plates, bowls, cups, salad bowls now leave through the shop on rue de Haguenau and an online boutique.
Soufflenheim is a village of potters in northern Alsace, and Poterie Artisanale G. Wehrling et Fille has worked there since 1980. Gerard and Marie-Antoinette Wehrling set up on their own account in that decade, drawn to folk art rather than to any inherited workshop. Their first body of work was a collection of cake moulds and reproductions of older pieces, among them the baeckeoffe terrines that the regional kitchen still depends on. Their daughter Peggy joined in the 1990s. Together the three of them rework the same folk repertoire with new shapes, colours, motifs meant for present-day interiors. The house makes a point of its own position. It belongs to no dynasty of potters, and it says that this is probably what lets it push against the tradition more freely. The range runs to plates, bowls, cups, salad bowls, decorative objects, ordered through the workshop's own online boutique or bought at the shop on rue de Haguenau. The workshop also runs pottery courses and initiation sessions for visitors who want to try the wheel. Delivery is handled by La Poste. Everything that leaves the shop is made in Soufflenheim itself.