however, we did not regret knocking on his door. from the cold appearance of the norman bates-eque mansion, the artist, jerome champenois, warmly welcomed us into a fun and playful place, his home. i felt like we’d walked on to a movie set that was the real-life version of pinocchio. not only did mr. champenois look exactly like geppetto, pinocchio’s maker, but his home was surrounded by toys and sculptures that were made mostly of metal instead of hand-carved wooden puppets, much like the workshop of geppetto. we spent the next hour or so chatting while he showed us his works. [click here to enlarge photo you'll get a closer look at some of the sculptures and especially the amazing work of a cowboy with lasso. his chaps are made of real cow horns]

every bit about him and his place was most adorable even down to his own business cards. they may be teeny tiny cards but they are overflowing with personality like his art. even though these are his business cards, at his request, i still had to blur out his information because of what happened when the local television station visited him. apparently, hoards of people came around to his house wanting to buy his sculptures and a lot of people were taking pictures like crazy! (sort of like i was doing inside his house but i did get his permission!) he is a bit eccentric and so things like having a business card and not wanting anyone to know where he is, somehow makes sense. if you saw his gigantic hornet and roach on the living room wall, you probably wouldn’t want to question any of his decisions, either. (remember what happens in pinocchio…)

though oftentimes not obvious, he does, in fact, want to sell his work! he is thinking about setting up a website to streamline his work process. he says he often receives fax orders at 3am from japan (his mice series are very popular with the japanese) then feels obligated to start working immediately. he already has many sculptures in stock but he also creates custom designs. for now, if you’re around this part of europe, you’ll be able to find his work in various specialty shops all across france.

i just couldn’t leave dear mr. champenois without a sculpture! it’s really impossible to choose from all the sculptures. but i got this one (click here to enlarge the photo) completely made out of iron, it’s about a 5-inch high sculpted standing mouse holding a typical french shopping basket containing a bottle of wine and a newspaper. it reminds me (in a small way) of the tin man (french mousy version) from the wizard of oz but much more whimsical, and of course…smaller.