BIOGRAPHY
 
      Philippe Manet, born in 1962 in Longwy grew up by contemplating from a distance the jerked shots of the blast furnaces in the night and the gentleness of the morning lights in the villages of the Lorraine countryside. He was shepherd. He could have been wheelwright, underground worker or blast furnace man, he will be stone-cutter. Between metal, stone and fire, it is with the stone that he will communicate the best. It whispers in his ears. It is the long love story between them.
 
      The stone, if it could speak, would tell you that it saw humanity being born and growing. That all civilizations alternately fear or venerate it. That it be in charge to become the ultimate witness of our life like a mark to eternity.
 
      The history, Philippe Manet seems to open to it a new page, a travel to a strange future past where the stone is there, strong, rough, aged, lending its voice in a mineral language. The cut stone occupies a new place that was unknown. Living-room armchair, bookshelves and other furnitures take then a new dimension that is both familiar and futuristic. It seems to be impressed by the spirit of a new art, of a style without historical, cultural or geographic reference, an inner insight of Atlantide.
 
      Each person will find in these pieces of furniture, a humble and quiet step. A long travel at the time of the Pangea, origin of the continents where the civilizations were born.
 
      Installed in Madagascar since 1998, his workshop Madastone continues to show its force as regards the creations of inner furniture or furniture developing gardens, its furniture mainly composed of rough and cut stone, associated with metal, wood or glass made elements, give
 
wonder. Thus, he participated in different salons and exhibits :
 
-   Maison et Objet (House and Object) in Paris in 2001
-   Salon of the Indian Ocean Handicrafts –AROCI 2001-
-   Sale exposure at Hotel Hilton Madagascar in December 2001
-   Musée d'art et d'archéologie of Antananarivo in December 2002
-   Centre Culturel A. Camus - Antananarivo - in October 2004
-   Salon HARENA- Antananarivo - in October 2006
-   Exhibition Paper-Stone-Transparency in Mikea gallery - Déc. 07
   
 
      The stone is sometimes worked rough, sometimes stabbed in points or by following a set of defined lines. It is worked entirely with the hands, here all is in the contact with the substance. The toll is there to make it still more alive.
 
      The stone gives the object a sacred feeling reminding the image of the raised stone of the altar or of the cave, it reminds a feeling of serenity and wisdom, invites to contemplation, to meditation...
 
      Nomadic craftsman, his trips in Tuscan, in Andalusia, in Lisbon, in Venice come to nourish its creation, he discovers the work of Vasarely, makes the acquaintance of Jean Allemand. Resolutely turned towards the creation, Philippe wishes today to open to all those who on earth see life “inseparable with stone”.
 
 
 
 
 
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