Alain Sauter – Globemaker

Bourgogne-Franche-Comté – 1983

Alain Sauter is a globemaker. During his years as a teacher at the Institut Géographique, ENS and Sorbonne, he has discovered the art of making terrestrial and celestial globes. He has begun practicing this skill at home, alongside his professional life. But this hobby soon became a passion and a vocation. In 2016, he left his job to set up his own workshop, Globe Sauter. With his collaborator Cécile Blary, he creates handmade, made-to-measure globes for private individuals, film directors and even cultural institutions such as the Château Royal d’Amboise.

2022 – Winner of the Prix Métiers d’Art Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.

Research and innovation

Alain Sauter’s techniques are traditional, and his materials come from France. All his globes are made of plaster reinforced with burlap and shaped by hand. He builds his own backgrounds using data from Natural Staff, and prints them on Digigraphie-certified paper. He then glues them with a reversible natural glue. This is a very delicate stage, as the papers must not be damaged, distorted or overlapped. Finally, he paints the cards with watercolors, and also makes the supports in Jura oak or beech.

Transmission

Alain Sauter has seized on this dying know-how with the aim of reviving it. To learn, he has consulted the rare literature on the subject and has contacted craftsmen specialized in molding. He has trained Cécile Blary, his colleague, who has also left her profession to become a craftswoman. Moreover, every year, Alain Sauter welcomes children into his workshop and runs globe-making activities.

To help Alain Sauter passing on his know-how, the Fondation Rémy Cointreau has supported him in 2023 with the acquisition of a large-format plotter. This tool is used to print high-quality cards.