A university graduate in political science, Valérie Le Métayer discovered the art of faience by chance during a holiday in the Alpes of Haute Provence. Falling in love with the art, she left Grenoble for Moustiers Sainte Marie, home of the most famous center of French faience-ware. Valérie spent two years in Moustiers, studying all the different techniques used in the making of traditional faience. By copying the ancient styles, Valérie developed her knowledge and expertise, and returned to Grenoble determined to revive the local faience tradition: a tradition which had almost died out, its memories decorating the walls of the local museum. In 1985, with the help of an Enterprise Creation grant, Valérie opened her own workshop, "Les Delphinales", tucked away on a quiet street in Ile Verte, between the old center of Grenoble and the village of La Tronche. This is where she works today, surrounded by the tools of the faience craftsman. Valérie is both an artisan and an artist; her work is traditional, but has her personal touch. No two pieces are identical; impossible, as all pieces are decorated by hand. Sometimes working with a design from La Tronche on a Moustiers-shaped pot, or creating a personalized collection for a customer, Valérie keeps a traditional art alive and growing. Valérie produces more than 600 pieces of faienceware per year. Most of these are sold either directly through the workshop, or by the Musée Dauphinois of Grenoble. Valérie is happy to work to a special order, for example, a dinner service for a wedding gift. For more information, please contact Valérie Le Métayer. Visitors and customers are always welcome at the workshop, where you can see Valérie at work, browse the shelves of recently-created faienceware, and rediscover one of the traditional crafts of Grenoble: faience.