The creations of Roland Daraspe are objects of such comfort and conviviality that they beg one to touch them, giving a quiver of pleasure – not just a delicate sensation but one can also feel the beating of the silver. One can appreciate the professionalism, the craftsman’s hand and can imagine the trouble taken to fashion the object. There is a strange feeling of being able to communicate with the maker when touching these objects. The works of Roland Daraspe have more than just an aesthetic quality. They are immediately satisfying.

Jacqueline du Pasquier, conservateur du Musée des Arts décoratifs, Catalogue Roland Daraspe, Bordeaux, oct-nov. 1992.

An enormous amount of time passes before the metal corresponds to the sketch on paper. Sometimes one month, sometimes two months pass before the piece at last appears – free, soft, luminous, almost as if it had always existed. Asked the question ’Do you sometimes feel a little isolated, working alone, bringing to life these objects of worship in a time when splendours and dreams escape us ?’ He smiles and appears unaware about what I am talking. He says that there are still people who appreciate this refinement, the gift to enjoy life : to eat and drink under the influence of the work of a silversmith. No doubt previous silversmiths have inspired him and his mission is the gift of creating an awareness of the past, but he appears not to notice this.

Caroline Clavier, Le Festin, n°17-18, october 1995.

Roland Daraspe is a contemporary silversmith from Bordeaux, following the tradition of Maurice Daurat, Jean Desprès and Christian Fjerdingstad. He is one of the most eminent silversmiths working independently in France today, in a field which is more or less dominated by large organisations. Roland Daraspe’s works have been exhibited throughout France as well as in Museums and private collections world-wide. His style is very French and very modern : – heir to a rich past, he is moving towards the future. His works are easily recognised by their fluidity of line, their technical brilliance of form, and the setting of some pieces with semi-precious stones. The silver-ware, made by hand, is unique. It is important to life. It is a record of our time, and food for the soul. The works of Roland Daraspe personify this.

David Allan, Twentieth Century Silver Specialist, Paris, August 1995

Even if his designs and works are strictly contemporary, Roland Daraspe uses good, traditional methods. Artist or craftsman ? He is both ! As a craftsman he has a certain elegance. He is naturally warm and friendly. He both designs and manufactures, (which is perhaps not always the case with other modern designers). He works alone in his ’lair’, to the musical accompaniment of the silversmith’s hammer. As an artist he is sensitive. Each creation is born from one or more designs. He jokingly says, ’My pieces come from the mind, the mind of the pencil. Each project has to ’work’ in my head before I can start to produce’. Where do all these ideas originate ? What wonderful achievements for this self-taught man.

Laurence Mouillefarine, LE FIGARO 12 october 1996