Biography

Originally from Ghent, Belgium, and spending much of her childhood on her grandparent’s farm, Françoise De Smet developed an appreciation for our earth at an early age. When she was sixteen, following her passion, Françoise began studying drawing and painting in evening classes, honing her skills and learning to better capture and pay tribute to the world around her. Two years later, she enrolled in the four-year ‘Monumental Arts Program’ at the LUCA School of Arts. It was during this time, in the ceramics studio of a fellow student, that she directly connected with our earth again and fell in love with the material. Not long after graduation, Françoise shifted her focus away from painting and returned to the LUCA School to study ceramics. Over the next six years, she completed evening courses and also founded a ceramics studio for the city of Ghent as part of their ‘Koloriet’ social project, where she completed her internship and started teaching. In 2000, Françoise participated in the biannual ‘Zinneke Parade’ in Brussels. This experience opened new creative doors, ultimately leading her to also become a costume designer and trumpet player. In 2002, Françoise founded her own studio, ‘Terre!’, to bring together all of her activities and fully explore her love of our earth in its many forms, whether it be as the clay under her fingers, the soil under her nails, or the solid ground she performs on.

In addition to her studies at the LUCA School, Françoise also completed courses in dressmaking at Syntra in Brussels and in horticulture at Velt and at the Europese Academy in Ghent. Her work has been shown in numerous exhibitions including ‘Design Nature’ at the International Design Biennale of Liège, ‘Lightopia’ at the Design Museum Ghent, and in a Special Selection by Design Flanders in Brussels. She remains a regular contributor to the ‘Zinneke Parade’, plays second trumpet in the band ‘La Nouvelle Flibuste’, teaches horticulture courses for the city of Brussels and a variety of organisations, and tends to a 1.5 hectare orchard, oriented towards agroforestry, in the region of Ciney, Belgium.