A Contemporary Sculptural Voice

Trained in Sèvres at the Institut de céramique française in 2003, Alice Riehl commenced her artistic career in 2006. As a tribute to the needlework of her foremothers, the combination of porcelain and lace became a defining feature of her early practice. It offered a new life to these traditionally feminine crafts—often dismissed—and reinterpreted them through a hybrid material.

Recognized in 2010 for her work on seaweed-inspired motifs and her first wall pieces, she began to develop, through her wall sculptures, a distinctive personal style, one that evolved alongside a steadily refined technical mastery, enabling her to create increasingly complex pieces. During this period, she created several major installations for the Intercontinental hotel in Marseilles, Château Dauzac in Margaux, the Four Seasons Astir Palace in Athens and Palazzo Pamphilj on Rome’s Piazza Navona.

At the dawn of the 2020s, Riehl embraced a more radical artistic direction. She created Autoportrait, a hybrid between a peacock and a magnolia—an artwork acquired by Chaumet for its private salons on Place Vendôme in Paris. The compositions of her works have grown more intricate, and the sculptural detailing increasingly meticulous. Her style asserts itself through works of contrasting formats—monumental (Alter Ego) or ethereal (Verve, Dent-de-Lion). She draws more explicitly from the world of tapestry (Millefleurs) and feminist mythology (Songe). Her glaze palette continues to expand, introducing unexpected shades that give each piece its own distinctive atmosphere (Échappée, Songe, Souffle, Timidité).

Resulting from her residency at Villa Albertine in New York in 2025, two concurrent solo museum exhibitions take place in 2026 and through 2027 at Museum of Arts and Design in New York and Musée de la Toile de Jouy in France. She is represented by Todd Merrill Studio.