Caps

Commissioned by VIENNA DESIGN WEEK in 2008 this project was realized together with Augarten, a Vienna porcelain manufacturer with a 300-year history. Being confronted with craft at its finest in the Augarten workshops, I quickly decided not just to make use of it in order to get a product, but make the production process itself a topic. By intervening at various stages of manufacturing, the resulting pieces made that process visible.

#1: When varying the amount of porcelain mass used in the mould for casting, highly sculptural objects can be the result.They often carry the tension of the semi-finished and irregular while making the manufacturing process transparent.
Porcelain, 2008

#2: The vase forms are the outcome of leaving what is usually cut off as waste in the course of manufacturing: the broad upper rim, the function of which is to ensure that the actual vase form is properly filled with porcelain mass, is here left and turned into an integral part of the design. Moreover the Augarten emblem, usually stamped underneath each vessel or plate, is used as a prominent design element, becoming a somewhat totemic quality.
Porcelain, sprayed, 2008

#3: The third project makes use of finished plates as constructive components and of their similarity, when stacked and turned over, to the venetian blind and its capacity to redirect light. The resulting lamps show a surprisingly functionalist aesthetic.
Porcelain plates, steeltube, 2009


www.augarten.at 
www.viennadesignweek.at