In rue Droite in Millau, Nicolas Julien works glass with passion

Dans son atelier, Nicolas Julien travaille le verre. Midi Libre – Romane Levi

Nicolas Julien fabrique des pièces d'art en verre. Formé en autodidacte, il s'est pris de passion pour ce matériau aux multiples facettes. 

Nicolas Julien has been a shopkeeper on Rue Droite for six years. The shop with the purple frontage used to be his mother's, who used to do creative hobbies there. With the competition from online sales, the person who bought the shop decided to retrain his business, offering, among other things, glass jewelry and decorative pieces.

“A small motorway service area in the city center” 

This is how Nicolas Julien describes the shop. “We offer everything that can please people, whether it is from children to the elderly.” Gradually, the merchant trained himself in art glassmaking.

In front of the front of his shop, rue Droite. Midi Libre – Romane Levi

Unlike many people, the period of confinement due to the Covid-19 pandemic allowed him to develop his business by devoting himself fully to glasswork. “I came to the shop, which was closed at the time, to learn and explore certain things that I didn't normally have time to explore. Little by little, the passion was born, I discovered the potential that this material had.” Nicolas Julien quickly noticed the positive feedback from customers. 

Glass, a demanding material 

"The ovens are never the same for glass. There are temperature levels that must be respected” . For pre-melting, it is necessary to go up to 700 degrees, or even 750. This temperature is reached after a day, with several levels. The cooling time of the furnace is the same, approximately seven hours, during which the doors must not be opened to avoid a thermal shock that would cause the glass to explode.

Artisan's pieces of art. Midi Libre – Romane Levi

Thermoforming allows the piece to be melted in such a way that it does not lose its shape, with a lower temperature threshold, at around 650 degrees. Demanding, yes, but accommodating. Since glass is remelted, it is possible to reuse failed pieces. “There is not much waste with glass, almost everything can be reused.” 

Nicolas Julien poses in front of his glass pieces. Midi Libre – Romane Levi

Nicolas Julien proudly holds out his glass cactus, it is this piece that he appreciates the most to this day, while waiting to create new original decorative objects.