Pauline Galindo creates glass beads that become jewelry in her workshop boutique in Mende

Pauline Galindo fabrique des perles de verre au chalumeau, dans son atelier boutique en centre-ville de Mende. Midi Libre – LOLA PESQUIÉ

Vitrailliste à Bagnols-les-Bains, Pauline Galindo transforme aussi le verre en perles. Dans sa boutique éphémère, on peut la voir travailler.

Pauline Galindo lowers her safety glasses and lights the blowtorch on her work table. In one hand, she grabs a mandrel, a long rod that does not conduct heat, and in the other a glass stick. And there she is, off to a bead-making session.

Although she knows glass, until now she was used to seeing it in sheets, which she cut to assemble into stained glass windows, in her workshop in Bagnols-les-Bains. An artistic stained glass artist, she has notably made all the pieces that adorn the church of Prévenchères.

Glass differently

Pauline Galindo takes advantage of a break between two construction sites to work glass in a completely different way. "I've wanted to make beads with a blowtorch for twenty years, she smiles. What I like is being able to transform the material." The operation must be fast, precise, and the gesture assured. The glass heats up, flows, wraps around the mandrel and becomes a pearl. It will go into the oven at 480 °C to become unbreakable.

Glass beads become earrings, pendants, rings… Midi Libre – LOLA PESQUIÉ

By playing with techniques, sizes, colors, patterns obtained by adding material of another color, Pauline Galindo can give free rein to her desires. With her pearls, she creates jewelry that she uses as earrings, pendants, bracelets, etc.

Meeting

At the beginning of October, Pauline Galindo has taken over a small boutique in downtown Mende. Passers-by can see her working from the street. “I wanted to reach out to others, to get out of the workshop”, Pauline Galindo confides. Visitors are therefore invited to come in and chat with the artisan, discover and buy her creations. The shop will be open until December 21.

Pauline Galindo's workshop boutique is located at 9 Place René-Estoup, in Mende. It is open from Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., until December 21. For example, you can find earrings starting at €19.