Hasta La Ideas

While simple off-white ceramic dinnerware is our go-to for setting the table—sometimes a pop of color in the dining room is just the ticket. San Antonio native Susan Rodriguez has been working as a ceramicist for…

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Chilean studio Great Things to People (gt2P) has built a machine to generate pottery objects using an analogue version of parametric design.

The Catenary Pottery Printer by gt2P comprises a wooden frame from which sheets of gauze, muslin or lycra can be suspended and used to slip-cast ceramics.

Liquid clay, or slip, is poured into the fabric and allowed to drip through, leaving a thin layer behind that hardens into a small dish.

Where digital parametric design would generate forms depending on the behaviour of a computer algorithm in response to a set of data, their system generates forms depending on the behaviour of the textile in response to a set of physical conditions.

As with digital parametric design, different results can be achieved by altering the set of variables – in this case factors including the position and number of anchor points for the fabric, stretchiness of the textile selected, the weight and amount of liquid slip, or drying times and viscosity of the type of clay.

“This is part of an exploration on how to create standard machines that generate non-standard results, mixing analogue numerical control with traditional material and techniques integrated in one real-time process,” said Guillermo Parada of gt2P, adding that “parametric design is not necessarily a digital computation methodology.”

“This project gives us a new scope – more parametric, less digital – allowing us to speak about parametric design without computers and digital fabrication laboratories which generates dialogues from academic contexts to communities of artisans,” he continued.

The designers have used the machine to make tableware, candle-holders and lamps, and suggest that the process could be scaled-up to make larger objects like furniture using lost-wax casting or resin.

Photos are by Victor Imperiale.

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Belgian design studio Fou de Feu has created two collections of ceramics including vases shaped like soap bubbles.

Fou de Feu‘s most recent collection Forms No Figures features decorative objects and a lamp, which combine lightly glazed ceramics and honey maple wood.

“This collection was inspired by industrial forms you find in old factories,” said designer Veerle Van Overloop. “Because these are originally made from wood, I decided to combine it with the ceramic.”

The wood is used to create the base and a rim around the ceramic shade of the simple lamp.

The decorative items come in a range of similar shapes. Some have wooden tops while others have wooden bottoms.

A few of these pieces have a small hole in the top so they can be used as candle holders or vases.

Fou de Feu has also crafted a collection of unglazed ceramic vases that look like combinations of soap bubbles, called Life’s a Bubble.

These round vessels are all a slightly different shape and either black or white.

Other ceramics on Dezeen include porcelain with patterns that play on traditional designs of Japanese pottery and a range of plates and bowls created from analogue 3D-printed moulds. See more ceramic design »

Photography is by Heikki Verdurme.

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Product news: Japanese studio Nendo has created a range of porcelain with patterns that play on archival designs from a traditional Japanese pottery.

The Ume-play and Karakusa-play collections were created in collaboration with Gen-emon, a 260-old ceramics company located in Arita, the Japanese town famed for its potteries in the Saga Prefecture on the northern part of Kyushu island.

The process involved a re-editing of one of the firm’s most well known patterns, a small plum-blossom repeat known as ume komon.

The ceramics also play with the traditional foliage scrollwork known as kara-kusa-e.

The process involved enlarging and re-arranging the original patterns by cutting them up, turning them upside down and layering the shapes.

The resulting pieces seem to have an eclectic mix of patterns at first glance but are tied together by the same basic shapes and the kiln’s identity of blue and white underglaze with contrasting dark and light blues.

The traditional porcelain method was also reinterpreted by introducing a charcoal-based resist method called sumi hajiki, in contrast to the usual way of filling in outlines. This method allowed for finer lines and reduced cost.

See more ceramics »
See more work by Nendo »

Photos by Akihiro Yoshida.

Some words from the designer:

Gen-emon is one of the most renowned Arita-yaki porcelain kilns, with a 260-year history dating to 1753.

We undertook an unorthodox re-edit of one of the kiln’s most famous patterns, a small plum flower repeat known as ‘ume komon’ and foliage scrollwork known as ‘karakusa-e’.

Like children playing with paper, we blew up the pattern until it was enormous, as though viewed through a magnifying glass.

We cut it up with scissors, pasted it, lined it up, turned it upside down and layered it, too.

This faux-naïve strategy allowed us to activate Gen-emon’s key visual signifiers – the blue and white underglaze and strong contrast between the dark and light blues – while developing a rich assortment of variations.

The result: a delightful selection of ceramics that may have different patterns, but can be used together on the table without breaking visual unity.

Traditionally, Gen-emon’s porcelains are made by drawing the outlines, then filling in the centre.

We introduced a charcoal-based resist method, ‘sumi hajiki’, that allows both fine lines and an accessible price for the consumer.

The ume-play collection upholds Gen-emon’s long history and traditions and reflects the kiln’s commitment to constant change and evolution.

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London Design Festival 2013: Royal College of Art graduate Bilge Nur Saltik has designed a collection of minimal white plates, bowls and cups that tip backwards and forwards, revealing a flash of fluorescent pink on their undersides (+ slideshow).

Share.Food tableware by Saltik features a small bowl, a large plate and a cup, each with a v-shaped base.

Saltik intends to playfully encourage people to share food and drink by tilting the vessels in different directions, rewarding them with a warm glow of colour from underneath as they do so.

“It is a bit of a balancing game around the dinning table,” Saltik told Dezeen. “Users can either balance everything towards themselves or they can tip them over and open their plate to other users.”

“It is quite a nice gesture to tip the plate and offer your food to someone – it is kind, surprising and playful,” she added.

Each object has a painted base that creates a soft glow when placed on light-coloured surfaces. “The glow is to underline the angles,” the designer said. “It is to indicate the direction of sharing and to create curiosity.”

Saltik’s tableware was on display at design showcase Tent London and the Going Into Business exhibition of work by this year’s Design Products graduates from the Royal College of Art during London Design Festival.

We’ve also featured Saltik’s OP-jects dimpled glassware that creates kaleidoscopic effects, which she presented at Show RCA 2013 earlier this summer.

See all our stories about London Design Festival 2013 »
See Dezeen’s map and guide to London Design Festival 2013 »

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