1 – GENERAL FORM
The top of the trophy is rounded like a loaf of bread. It sits atop a slender body in a movement evoking the rolling, twisting and kneading of the dough. The spiral which is projected from Lyon functions as a common thread bringing the separate parts together as a whole.

2 - MATERIALS
Metal:
With gilt bronze flanking either side of the trophy, this axis holds the various elements together. One of the plates is engraved with the words “Mondial du Pain - World of bread contest”. Like two golden flames projected from the base to the tip of the trophy. Here, in a spiral movement rests a medallion, the symbol of the “Bread Ambassadors”. The medallion symbolises manual labour, the handing down from the hands of the experienced to the hands of youth. The hands knead a round loaf, the globe and its continents. The loaf features the baker’s famous “grigne” as it is known in French, the ear of the crust that separates itself from the loaf.
The spiral rises from the globe, from Lyon. It encircles the motif to rejoin the trophy and retrace this line back to its roots. Here lie the inscriptions “Ambassadeurs du Pain” (Bread Ambassadors) and the artist’s signature: N. Salagnac.


Wood:

A species of walnut wood which is very dry as it is at least 150 years old, derived from the silk weavers’ time-honoured profession in Lyon. Sawn and shaped, the sculpture combines simple and pure forms. On one side there is a voluptuous, rounded shape which evokes the rounded stomach of an expectant woman, while the other features a straighter, tauter form. The culmination of these forms produces a curvilinear line which extends upwards as far as the medallion.


Glass is used to evoke water. The glass is cut in sheets measuring approximately 50mm wide so that the sections remain as clear and transparent as possible to let the light play on the trophy. They are stuck horizontally one after another with a special paste, while following the forms of the sculpture, they symbolise water, movement, life… They merge with the earth towards this round loaf.


3 – THE BREAD In nutritional terms, bread cannot help but be part of the history to come. The heritage of time-honoured techniques and their customisation to modern technology; the taste and flavour of crusting bread, and production techniques which must be kept while constantly innovating. From cereal mixes for special bread to the selection of the best wheat for ordinary bread. The baking profession throughout the world does not shirk from the concept of “earning one’s bread and butter”. Kneaded, shaped and baked to provide a delicious meal.

4 – THE SPIRIT
Art cannot exist without spirit. It requires a train of thought to give shape to physical labour. Thoughts generate action and it is only through this state of mind that the know-how can find its form. These are the basic principles governing the spiral of men through time.
There is a thin line between art and tradition, a line that is crossed everyday by the thousands of hands who work today to guarantee the future of tomorrow.

The association “Les ambassadeurs du pain” (the Bread Ambassadors) seeks a goal, a dream which is magnified in this case by the work on show, the symbolism of the image of what it wants to be.
Research and tradition, bread and nutrition, an endless symbol of the know-how shared throughout the world, the rotund nature of mother Earth echoed in the pregnant woman’s shapely belly, the passing on by word of mouth and the emulation of techniques, which could not be captured and live on through the written word. Feeding the world is a noble ambition which was bound to be stigmatised.

Thanks be to the artist and to the hearts of men, each individual can find what he is looking for in these few flames of saintly spirit presented as an eternal offering.

Christian Parveau.