Hasta La Ideas

Granby Workshop, the social enterprise set up by Turner Prize-winning architecture collective Assemble, has launched a range of slip cast vessels as part of London Craft Week.

Presented as a Pop-up Bottle Shop at Coals Drop Yard in London’s King’s Cross, the collection consists of cylindrical ceramic tableware, including cups, pots, jars and bottles.

The collection is made using a slip casting technique, where liquid clay is poured into a plastic mould so that when the clay solidifies it retains the mould’s shape.

“The range is based on ongoing research exploring the potential of slip casting as a creative manufacturing technique,” said the workshop.

Granby Workshop adapted the process to include a system of eight stackable modular moulds to allow for multiple possibilities to be made from combinations of the eight individual parts.

The modular mould system was initially developed during a residency in Japan earlier this year, where Granby Workshop spent four weeks experimenting with slip-cast-ware in a traditional wood-fired climbing kiln.

Unlike conventional slip casting, where a plain clay body is decorated after moulding, the designers chose to incorporate colourful, texturised clay into the making process.

The designers used offcuts from their “extremely vibrant” encaustic tile project, which they blended into slip to create colourful liquid clay.

Each product is made with different colours and mould combinations, meaning that each piece is unique.

“Different surface effects have been achieved from pouring, spraying and sponging the liquid clay into the mould,” said the designers.

The exterior of the ceramics is unglazed so that the imprints left over by the moulds can be seen.

Granby Workshop’s new collection is available at the Granby Workshop’s Pop-up Bottle Shop at Coal Drops Yard in Kings Cross, London until 12 May.

Assemble made history when it became the first non-artist to win the Turner Prize in 2015. The team are best known for their public installations, which include a brutalist-inspired playground and a temporary cinema constructed beneath a flyover.

They also recently completed a “raw and robust” art centre for London’s Goldsmiths.

The post Assemble’s Granby Workshop creates slip cast tableware using modular moulds appeared first on Dezeen.