Hasta La Ideas

Milan 2014: designers Luca Nichetto and Lera Moiseeva collaborated to create a ceramic tableware collection to accompany a porcelain coffee set, for an exhibition at Spazio Rossana Orlandi.

The Cheburashka table set for ceramics company Dymov was designed by Luca Nichetto and Lera Moiseeva to enhance and reinterpret the ritual sharing of food.

A large collective container has oversized handles and a lid that when placed upside-down becomes a flat surface for the serving spoon, which can also hang from either handle.

Two smaller bowls complete the set and can be stacked upside-down on top of the main container’s lid, creating a totem shape for storage.

Hand-engraved lines on the surface of the ceramics resemble a fishing net, appearing to wrap the containers.

“Cheburashka” is the ancient Russian word for the floats used by fishermen to support their nets and also the name of a popular big-eared Soviet children’s character, who bears a resemblance to the main container in the collection.

After being formed on the potter’s wheel and dried, the surface of the red clay pieces are polished using a hard smooth surface to close the pores and shine the material.

The pieces are fired at 950 degrees and then smoke-fired in an air-tight kiln filled with smoldering embers of wood chips and sawdust.

A chemical reaction allows the clay minerals to absorb the smoke and gives the products their dark appearance. Finally, the objects are polished using natural beeswax provided by local beekeepers.

Cheburashka was exhibited as part of the Walk the Line exhibition at Spazio Rossana Orlandi in Milan last week.

The set was paired with Nichetto and Moiseeva’s Sucabaruca porcelain coffee range for the Mjölk gallery in Toronto, which was designed with the similar principal of enjoying hot drinks with others.

“The idea is to show that the same kind of approach can create two objects that are completely different, one in porcelain and the other in ceramic, but with the same kind of energy and the idea of sharing with guests,” Nichetto told Dezeen at the exhibition.

Photography is by Lera Moiseeva and Luca Bragagnolo.

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