FRANCOIS CARION

The revival of wrought iron by the beginning of the 20th century was not in the last place caused by the inventions of new techniques developped by blacksmiths like Edgard Brandt and others. In Belgium the road was paved by two famous "ferronnier d'art" and each of them created a school of followers. The flamish blacksmith Louis van Boeckel (1857-1944) with his very detailed and naturalistic style and the wallonian smith F. Carion. Over the years more then 200 young men became master in the arts working in the company of van Boeckel and many of them later had their own successfull workshop. Van Boeckel already wellknown, he was commissioned to make the gates of the Whitehouse in Washington, was at the top of his carreer in 1900 when he won amongst 378 blacksmiths from all over the world the highest decoration at the worldexhibition in Paris in 1900. As for François Carion (1884- ?) the Brussels based smith was on the top of Belgian Art Deco. For 16 years he was a teacher at the ecole industrielle of Saint-Gilles (Brussels) yet stopped teaching when he lost his right hand in an accident and specialized in the production of small pieces like lamps mirrors candle-sticks iron mounts for stoneware vases and small tables.