Chinese Calligraphy Workshop in Boulogne-Billancourt
One character, in a single breath
The ink is ground by hand. Stick against stone, a little water, worked until the density is right. It takes ten minutes and nobody can do it for you — this is where the session actually begins, before the brush touches paper at all.
Chinese calligraphy allows no correction and no second pass. A stroke, once laid, stays. That constraint is unnerving at first and it is exactly what makes the practice so absorbing: you decide beforehand, then let go. Most people discover, over three hours, a kind of concentration they didn't know they had.
The session is built around a single character — a word you choose, written at the end on a fabric scroll to keep or to give. You will not learn Chinese, and that isn't the point. You will learn how to hold a brush, how a character is built, and how to lay a stroke that holds.
3 hours · 7 participants maximum · €95, all materials included · French, English, Mandarin
One gesture, once. The brush does not allow a second attempt.
The three hours
1 · Understanding (1 hour)
Where Chinese characters come from and how they changed — from divination bones to the five major calligraphic styles. Then the tools: the Four Treasures of the Study, how to hold and care for a brush, and grinding the ink, which we do together.
2 · The gesture (1 hour)
Demonstration, then practice. The fundamental strokes, pressure, speed, the relationship to empty space. We work on practice paper, as a group, until the hand settles.
1 · Understanding (1 hour)
Choosing your character, preparing, then writing it on fabric. One attempt counts, as it should — but you will have rehearsed.
What you take home
Your calligraphed fabric scroll, ready to hang. Your practice sheets. And what you need to continue: the materials list, where to buy them in Paris, and what not to buy first.
Who it's for
No prior knowledge required, and no Chinese. The workshop suits complete beginners, anyone curious about Asian culture, and children from ten upwards accompanied by an adult.
Seven people maximum. Everyone is corrected individually — there is no other way to learn a gesture.
Who leads it
The workshop is led by Feishan Hsieh, a Taiwanese artist based between Paris and Taipei. Her own practice — surfaces built up in relief, two millimetres deep — rests on the same principles as calligraphy: slowness, accumulation, and a gesture that cannot be taken back.
She teaches in French, English and Mandarin.
Practical Details
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3 hours
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7 participants maximum
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€110 per person, all materials included
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5 Rue de Sèvres, 92100, Boulogne-Billancourt
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Métro Pont de Saint-Cloud, 3 minutes on foot
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French, English, Mandarin
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Something you don't mind marking. Chinese ink does not come out.
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Required. The session runs from four participants.
Frequently Asked Questions
Other Workshops
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No. Most participants don't know a single character. We work on form and gesture, not language.
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Yes, entirely: brushes, ink stick, ink stone, practice paper and the fabric scroll. Bring nothing.
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It runs in French, English or Mandarin. State your preference when booking; for mixed groups the session is led in French with English translation.
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From ten years old, accompanied by a registered adult. Below that, holding the brush and sustaining three hours is difficult.
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Yes. A gift voucher valid for one year is available at booking.
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Not at all. The brush is held vertically; it doesn't depend on your dominant hand.