BRONZE PRICE – 2014 Nantong International Contemporary Craft Biënnale

Symbol for a lifecycle

At the beginning of September my work ‘Wing Form’ was selected to be exhibited in the ‘2014 Nantong International Contemporary Craft Biennale’, which runs from October 24 to November 23, 2014. There is also a competition associated with this biennale and – to my great surprise! – the “Wing Forms” series was awarded a “Bronze Prize”. This was immediately my first international prize, and still in China, the cradle of porcelain.

Wing Form is a perfect example of mutual influence between human and material and how this interaction can lead to a creative result. In this case every bowl becomes unique by its wavy folds. Initially I wanted to create simple, hollow bowls, but the porcelain got ‘crumpled’ out of the cast.

Although the result was not what I expected, it looked nice. I then started using that unintentional deformation of the material. I have developed this process so technically that I can now consciously and consistently manufacture the shells.

Recycled porcelain and real gold form the basis of this award-winning design. Although many ceramicists throw away their cast porcelain remains, I use them to the last grain. The bowls were made from the castings of my functional designs. The golden, fragile and sometimes jagged line symbolizes life. The scales fit together like a domino with the underlying philosophy that life is also a sequence of all kinds of unexpected moments.

WING FORM – recycled slip casting leftovers
Wing Forms connected by a fragile line of gold
symbol for a life cycle