François Houtin

François Houtin, born on 25 August 1950 in Craon, Mayenne, is a French printmaker. He works between Paris and Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier.

After an experience as a landscape and garden designer with Jacques Bédat and Franz Baechler at in the early 1970s, François Houtin learns printmaking in Paris with Jean Delpech. He shows his first works in 1977. From this moment on, his subjects are connected to the nature (fantastic gardens, topiaries, plant architectures) and his perfect knowledge of plants combines with his imagination.

Besides engraving, which remains his favorite mode of expression, François Houtin also produces drawings on Chinese notebooks (leporellos) and, from 2002 on, very large washings in India ink on paper or canvas.

Using the same sources of inspiration, François Houtin has produced the decoration of several squares for Hermès and, in 2010, a table set entitled The Enchanted Houses. He has also painted murals: in 2010, the monochrome plant decoration for the Artcurial restaurantat on the Champs Elysées in Paris.

François Houtin intervenes on this occasion as a landscape architect and participates in the renovation project of the Tuileries Gardens in 1990. He designed several gardens including the beautiful topiary gardens of Colette and Hubert Sainte-Beuve in Plant-Bessin (Castillon) in Normandy.

Some of his works belong to land art, such as large cairns in nature or public or private commissions.