The artist

Half Dutch, half French, Claire sees herself more as a ‘child of the world’, since leaving her job in Sophia Antipolis six years ago, she has followed her artistic talents and currently hand makes bespoke jewellery. I went along to her studio to see how it’s done.  

DH: How long have you lived in Roquefort?

Claire: Over ten years. 

DH: Where were you born?

Claire: The Hague in Holland. 

DH: What made you chose RLP?

Claire: The nature, being surrounded by greenery, even though that meant having a fox in my bedroom once, chewing on my bra in the middle of the night! 

DH: What’s your favourite gadget, object or thing?

Claire: Glass – and it’s the medium I’ve been working with most recently. I used to draw and paint, but today I make beads out of Murano glass and then use them (along with silver/antique brass or gold) to create unique pieces of jewellery. 

DH: What would you choose for a favourite day out? The beach or the mountains?

Claire: A bit of both, but this time of year skiing. That’s one of the great things about living in this part of the world – you can do both.

DH: What in your opinion does RLP lack?

Claire: A real centre and for that I think you need to start from scratch. I’ve been reading a book about 11^th-century Roquefort and in those days they had ‘fires’ as centres (makes sense) so even then there wasn’t one clear one.

DH: What are you looking forward to this year?

Claire: I’ll be running bead workshops with a maximum of six participants at a time. And for artists who need ‘torch time’ (it’s very popular in the States and Germany but still very new here) I’ll provide the tools, the seat, use of the kiln, the gas etc on an hourly or daily rate.

Visit Claire’s site to see her work or to commission a bracelet or necklace for a special occasion.

The name ‘veryclaire’ – plays on the French word for glass ‘verre’ and her own name,  http://www.veryclaire.com/ or call her directly on 06 24 36 91 66. She speaks Dutch, French & English.