For the past 20 years, steel sculptor Philippe Desloubières has made his home in the Vimeu region of northern France, a Picardy microregion renowned for its industrial enterprises focused on light metallurgy. This extraordinary artist, who values discretion above all else, has quietly spread his refined steel sculptures called "Germinations" to all four corners of the world from his workshop in this metal-working heartland.

Desloubières' path to art began through an unconventional route. Born in Paris in 1950 and raised in a family sensitive to all forms of art, young Philippe rejected traditional schooling. "I'm not rebellious, but independent," he explains. "Today, it's still the case. I don't frequent any groups of artists. Same thing in politics. Ultimately, I feel like a stranger to all coteries."

This Parisian native lived his youth in various locations - first in Aisne at Soissons, then in the south at Toulon, and finally in Nantes. This nomadic lifestyle continued until he fell under the spell of the Picardy coast later in life. "It's thanks to my companion, whom I met in an artists' workshop in Paris and who is originally from Quend in the Somme region, that I discovered this corner of France," he recalls. "Moreover, I had been contacted to exhibit in Mers-les-Bains on the coast. I went there and experienced a real love at first sight for this charming seaside resort and its cliffs."

When he discovered the Picardy coastline, sculptor Philippe Desloubières fell in love with the cliffs of Mers-les-Bains, where two of his works are now displayed. At the same time, the artist felt cramped in his Parisian workshop. Even then, he was sculpting very large formats, and neighbors were complaining about the noise. His decision was made: he would migrate to the Picardy coast.

"I have lived in Picardy for 20 years now. First in Friville-Escarbotin for three years, then in Woignarue, where I still live year-round. And I'm very happy there," Desloubières says. He installed his workshop in an 800-square-meter space and sources his materials from industrial hardware stores, numerous in this region where metalworking is in the DNA of the inhabitants. "For welding or polishing, and for my materials, I have everything I need at hand. And when I needed to find assistants, there were plenty of skilled workers here!"

At 75 years old, Philippe Desloubières, who still spends most of his time in his workshop, continues to work with his faithful assistant Abel Brunet, a professional welder and boilermaker who has been helping him for years. Desloubières has benefited for years from the help and expertise of his assistant, Abel Brunet, a boilermaker from the Vimeu region.

The path to sculpture wasn't obvious for Philippe Desloubières. Faced with his refusal to go to school, his father asked him to start an apprenticeship in a delicatessen in Versailles. "Every day, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., I would go there on my Solex moped. I did that from age 14 to 19," he remembers.

Then came mandatory military service. Young Desloubières, victim of a serious moped accident, didn't have the physical condition necessary for training marches. So he was assigned to the armory. His mission was to watch over the weapons stock and maintain rifles. "A quiet job. It was in 1970, in a large barracks in Meaux. I spent most of my time in my room, and with boredom, I started carving pieces of wood," Philippe Desloubières recalls.

The young man wouldn't stop there and marveled at the forms he could extract from the material. "After my military service, I told myself that this was my calling. I decided to make a living from it." Coming to sculpture late and almost by chance, Philippe Desloubières is now known internationally.

One of his aunts then put him in contact with a painter from Argentina, Nelida Fedullo: "You can literally say that she brought me into the world, artistically speaking. I can't express it any other way." Philippe Desloubières then decided to take evening classes for two years before being accepted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

"I was admitted even though I didn't believe it possible. But this universe was totally unknown to me. I didn't know how to take notes, I couldn't find my place. And I ended up in the fresco workshop, where there was nobody!" This work on scaffolding, on a large scale, appealed to Philippe Desloubières, whose steel Germinations are often monumental, measuring 3.5 to 4 meters high. "I loved fresco work that literally puts you, in the true sense of the term, with your back against the wall! It's a demanding practice; you don't have the right to make mistakes," says the artist.

After four years of study at the École des Beaux-Arts, Philippe Desloubières launched his artistic career alone. For nearly 15 years, he sculpted what he calls "his little theaters" - sociopolitical stagings. "And then one day, I felt the need to expand into space, to purify, to go to the simplest form." This was the beginning of the Germinations period. "Metalworking is rough work; you have to protect your whole body. But in the end, the result is fluid, airy."

Since the late 1990s, Philippe Desloubières has sculpted nearly 300 Germinations. To do this, an average of 2.5 tons of sheet metal per year has been necessary for his work. These monumental silhouettes, in raw or painted steel, all in curves that resemble plants, have spread throughout the world: Europe, the United States, Africa, Southeast Asia. Whether public commissions or private orders, these often imposing works, miracles of balance, seem to carry a universal language.

"I have always wanted to address the greatest number of people, whether you're an art specialist or a novice. My work is addressed to everyone. That's what makes me happy," notes Philippe Desloubières. The artist doesn't hesitate to travel for location scouting before installing his work: "I remain very attentive to ensuring that my sculpture is perfectly integrated into its future environment. It must not devour what surrounds it; it must be in harmony. A word that has great importance for me."

"I need to grapple with steel, this hand-to-hand combat with the material. To weld, to bend. It's almost brutal work," explains Philippe Desloubières. A man in search of serenity, who, at 75, still goes daily to his vast workshop in Woignarue. In fire and steel, he then transforms into a boilermaker, a metallurgical worker: "I need to grapple with steel, this hand-to-hand combat with the material. To weld, to bend. It's almost brutal work; you have to protect your eyes, your hands, your face. We seek perfection, and in the end, all this forceful work fades away to give way to pure form."

One of Philippe Desloubières' latest achievements is a commission from Courbevoie, in the Hauts-de-Seine department. Until 1935, the city housed the Delage automobile company, and it wanted to install a memorial sculpture in public space. This has been accomplished since last year. "I won the competition launched by the municipality. I'm very proud of it because I've always loved these very beautiful cars that my father showed us photos of when I was little," he says. A rare foray into the automotive world for Philippe Desloubières, now an adopted Picardy resident.

The steel sculptor, who is preparing an exhibition of drawings in February in Paris, admits to slowing down the pace and now working only on commission. "I go to the workshop part-time. It remains a need anyway. I will only stop when I'm no longer capable of it," he concludes. The artist continues his passionate relationship with steel, creating works that speak a universal language of form and harmony, spreading his artistic vision from his quiet corner of northern France to collectors and public spaces around the globe.