Sweep the core
A birch profile board sweeps the clay-and-sand core. It dries beside the furnace flue.
A family foundry on the SaôneLyon, France · Est. 1924
Bronze, with a voice.
Le Bourdon de Table
Cast in river sand.
Tuned by hand.
Made to be heard.
18
Bells in each pour.
One pour a month.
78% Cu / 22% Sn
True bell bronze
True bell bronze
Find your note.
One bell, in three voices. Choose the pitch that belongs in your space, then the surface that feels like yours.
Time, on the surface.
Three patinas. The same bronze underneath.
The same price for your chosen size.
A synthesized pitch reference. Hear the full resonance in our tuning room on Fridays.
From river sand
to resonance.
A birch board shapes the core. The river lends its sand. A tuning fork has the final word.
1,140 °C
The heat that turns copper and tin into true bell bronze. No lead. No zinc. No fillers.
78% copper22% tin
CuSn22 · True bell bronze
Pour the bronze
Molten 78/22 bronze is ladled into flasks packed with rammed Saône river sand.
Break the jacket
After 48 hours of slow cooling, the blackened sand mould is cracked open.
Tune the soundbow
The horizontal lathe removes microns from the inner lip until the fundamental and minor-third hum agree with the tuning fork.
Patina & stamp
The surface is finished, the forged iron clapper hung on rawhide, and the crown cold-stamped.
A voice.
A record.
Every bell carries its own beginning. Cold-stamped into the crown: its pouring month, its place in the lot, its exact fundamental frequency, and our maker’s mark.
1 · Pouring monthMM / YYYY
2 · Number in the lot01–18 / 18
3 · Fundamental pitch440 Hz
4 · Maker’s markMercier · Lyon
Four fields, cold-stamped into the crown.
One of eighteen.
We fire the crucible once a month. Each pouring makes eighteen bells — and every one is tuned by hand.
18 bells. One monthly pouring.
Prepare your slip for the next pour and bring it to the foundry.
Your slip is ready.
Bring it to the foundry on Friday. Claire or Léonore will talk through your bell and the next pouring with you.
Name
Bell
Patina
Price
This is your reservation request, not a confirmed place in the pour.
We couldn’t keep your changes. You can still prepare and download your slip.
Come by the quay.
28, Quai Saint-Vincent69001 Lyon, France
Fridays14:00–18:00
The foundry and tuning room are open.
Four minutes on foot from Passerelle Saint-Vincent.
A family’s hands.
A century’s ear.
Henri Mercier founded our workshop in 1924, on the quay below Croix-Rousse. Today, his granddaughters Claire and Léonore keep the furnace lit and the notes true.
Claire & Léonore Mercier