Hasta La Ideas

Strips of seaweed have left their mark on the photosensitive surfaces of these vases by Anglo-Dutch design duo Glithero, who will present the collection at Design Miami this week.

The Silverware collection was created by Glithero as a development of the studio’s Blueware vases and tiles, which were decorated with silhouettes of plants captured by photosensitive chemicals.

The designers applied silver salt particles to the hand-thrown porcelain vases to make their surfaces photosensitive.

They then attached seaweed from the English Channel to the vases before exposing them to light, so that the area under the seaweed was protected from exposure.

A rotating machine exposed the pieces evenly in the darkroom before they were dunked in developer fluid to complete the process.

The vases will be presented by Galerie VIVID at Design Miami this week, where Dezeen will be reporting on all the best installations and exhibitions – see all our stories about Design Miami.

British designer Tim Simpson and Dutch designer Sarah van Gameren founded Glithero after meeting at the Royal College of Art in London.

We previously featured Glithero’s Blueware collection of vases and tiles as well as an installation of 1000 of the tiles in Rotterdam.

More recently we featured a movie by Glithero showing the creation of a temporary bar by pouring buckets of quick-hardening material over a smooth surface. We’ve also featured a table made by pouring liquid down a chute and a pair of twisted self-supporting candles by the studio.

See all our stories about Glithero »
See all our stories about vases »

Here’s some more information from Glithero:

Glithero Silverware 2012

Silverware is a series of hand thrown porcelain vases each devoted to a single specimen of seaweed. Glithero harvested seaweeds from the English Channel and configured the specimen graphically upon the surface of the photosensitive porcelain. The designers developed a rotating light-printing machine to exposes the pieces one by one in a darkroom, before they are immersed in the various developing baths to reveal a highly detailed and translucent print. The moment in the life of the saltwater species is captured as a lasting tonal photogram on the deep black of the silver salt particles on the surface of the vase.

Silverware is a project that follows the conceptual thread of Blueware Collection launched by Glithero in 2009 – to capture direct impressions of botanical specimens that reveal their delicate fabric and beauty.

Silverware will be exhibited in Miami with Galerie Vivid as part of Design Miami 2012 alongside several iconic pieces by Gerrit Rietveld, the great Dutch furniture designer and architect. The other designers in this show are Richard Woods / Sebastian Wrong, Bertjan Pot and Frank Tjepkema.

Dimensions of the vases:
Round : H36 x W43 cm
Tall : H58 x W30 cm
Big : H51 x W44

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