La Grande Place, Musée Saint-Louis is a gateway to the history of crystal-making and new developments in the medium. At the heart of the production site, the museum is an architectural showcase for iconic pieces made at the Cristallerie Saint-Louis, in dialogue with contemporary artworks as part of a series of temporary exhibitions staged by the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès.

For Gretel Weyer, working in the unique context of La Grande Place is both a challenge and an immediate source of inspiration. A ceramicist by training, she feels a close connection to the site, which is not only an exhibition space but also a centre for artisan production. Fire, an essential element in the crystal-making process, plays the same role in ceramics – a force to be harnessed, transforming the raw clay with which Weyer works. Ultimately, the shape and size of the glass display cases reserved for guest artists at the site suggested miniature, model theatres, upon whose stages stories of everyday life are played out.

Against this background, Weyer devised “Les invités”, an exhibition conceived as an unfolding series of stories, freed from the confines of conventional narrative structure, where everyday life and fantasy meet. Like invited guests, we observe domestic dioramas in which objects come to life or metamorphose. Forest creatures appear in private, indoor settings, and we sense a kind of magic at work in the home.