Haiti · Repurposed-metal relief sculpture
Fer Découpé
The hand-cutting, hammering, and embossing of recycled 55-gallon steel oil drums into intricate relief sculptures and wall panels, centered on the Noailles quarter of Croix-des-Bouquets, on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. The craft was single-handedly pioneered by blacksmith Georges Liautaud (1899–1991), discovered in 1953 by American painter DeWitt Peters — founder of Le Centre d'Art (see CRAFT-2059) — who noticed Liautaud's distinctively styled metal grave crosses in the local cemetery and encouraged him to expand into freestanding sculpture. Liautaud's work, blending Vodou and Christian imagery, is now held in the collections of MoMA and the Centre Pompidou; his direct apprenticeship lineage runs through Murat Brierre and Seresier Louis-Juste to contemporary master Serge Jolimeau, and today Croix-des-Bouquets is home to over 1,000 metal artisans across 60+ workshops.
Risk level: Vulnerable · Not Applicable — no UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage inscription exists specifically for this craft at time of writing
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