Mexican designer Liliana Ovalle has created a carafe and set of tumblers printed with fine black lines that overlap to create a moiré effect when the pieces are clustered together.
Each item in the Cumulo collection by Liliana Ovalle is decorated with fanned-out linear patterns that become finer as they radiate outwards, creating a cross-hatching effect where they reach round to the other side and can be seen through the layers of glass.
“The glasses and carafe acquire a more complex three-dimensionality when combined together,” said Ovalle. “As the patterns overlap in various arrangements, the accumulation of lines reveals hidden depths and densities.”
London Design Festival 2013:Mexican designer Liliana Ovalle is presenting a series of clay vessels based on the geological phenomenon of sinkholes as part of a group show at Gallery Libby Sellers in London.
Ovalle based the irregular shapes of the vessels on the idea of sinkholes forming below ground, creating voids that the ground suddenly disappears into.
“The black vessels stand as a representation of the geological phenomena of sinkholes, a portrayal of those voids that emerge abruptly from the ground, dissolving their surroundings into an irretrievable space,” said Ovalle.
Individually made oak frames that represent a cross section of the ground support the vessels, whose open ends interrupt the flat surfaces on top of the frames.
To produce the clay pieces, Ovalle worked with Colectivo 1050º, a group of artists, designers and makers in Oaxaca, Mexico, that supports artisanal skills currently facing the threat of extinction.
“By making reference to different process of extinction, the Sinkhole project aims to reflect and extend the permanence of what seems to be inevitably falling into a void,” explained Ovalle.
The vases are shaped by hand using tools such as corn cobs and pieces of leather and the blackened finish is achieved by exposing the fired clay to an open flame.
The project is being exhibited as part of a group show called Grandmateria III at Gallery Libby Sellers during the London Design Festival, and will continue to be shown until 5 October 2013.
Foam models were documented and sent to the ceramists in Tlapazola, Oaxaca.
The Sinkhole project is the result of a collaboration between Liliana Ovalle and Colectivo 1050º.
The black vessels stand as a representation of the geological phenomena of sinkholes, a portrayal of those voids that emerge abruptly from the ground, dissolving their surroundings into an irretrievable space.
Bi-dimensional drawings were translated with the aid of measured wooden sticks.
Each vessel is suspended in a wooden frame, alluding to a cross section of the ground that reveals the hidden topographies.
Alberta and Dorotea mold the the vessels using the ¨cone” tecnique. The clay is molded on plates balanced on rocks and then spun by hand.
The clay shapes, based in local archetypes for utilitarian pottery, are crafted by ceramists from Tlapazola, Oaxaca using ancestral techniques and skills that are struggling to find a place in the contemporary global landscape.
Once the pieces were dried and fired for a first time, a second “open” fire was made to blacken out the vessels.
By making reference to different process of extinction, the Sinkhole project aims to reflect and extend the permanence of what seems to be inevitably falling into a void.
The tones and gradients of each vessel were controlled by exposing them directly to the flame or the burning ashes. The “blackening” process lasts approximately one hour.
Sinkhole Vessels will be showcased at the exhibition Grandmateria III, at Gallery Libby Sellers, during the London Design Festival.
Final fitting of the ceramic pieces into the oak frames.
This dressing table by London designer Florian Schmid comprises a circular mirror with a two-legged table slicing halfway across it.
The C58 Dressing Table leaves the left-hand side of the mirror free to show the user’s full profile, while the flat surface extending to the right provides storage and display space for bottles and trinkets.
“Through the reflection of the object itself arises the illusion of a bigger and a three-legged table, which also looks like an artificial window,” adds Florian Schmid.
The proportions and composition are echoed in a matching European ash stool and trays for organising small items like jewellery.
London designers Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay of Raw Edges created an animated pond at the Bloomberg offices in London using equipment the company had thrown away.
Called The Pond, the installation featured an animation by Oscar Narud spanning 60 discarded computer monitors, showing fish, dragon flies and ducks darting between the screens.
40 wooden pallets were used to make seating around the pond, where workers can gather during breaks.
The installation was initiated by Arts Co as part of their Waste Not Want Not project commissioned by Bloomberg Philanthropy.
“The Pond’ is a seating environment constructed from 40 discarded wooden pallets encircling a recessed pond made from 60 redundant Bloomberg computer monitors. These are arranged to look as though they have been thrown into it landing untidily on top of each other. Across the linked screens runs an animation created especially by designer Norwegian designer Oscar Narud. Within the animation are several repeating cycles of activity – a duck paddles after a dragonfly, a small fish darts in and out among stones, a butterfly flits across the water and a frog leaps over lily pads and into the water.
The work is purposefully raw in construction, mimicking a natural outdoor landscape and drawing attention to the materiality of the waste used. The irony of this bucolic pond scene is that over 99 tonnes of domestic and industrial waste goes into landfill in the UK annually fundamentally impacting on the composition of this natural world.
About The Designers
Israeli-born Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay set up their London-based design studio Raw Edges after graduating from London’s Royal College of Art.
Their work is playful and imaginative yet functional and desirable and tries to continually challenge the basic premises of why a designed object has to be the way it is and how it functions.
Since their graduation show at the Royal College of Art in 2006, Raw Edges have received several highly respected awards including The British Council Talented Award, iF Gold Award, Dutch Design Award, Wallpaper* Design Award 2009 and the Elle Decoration International Design Award for best furniture of 2008_09 and just recently the Designer of the Future Award for 2009 from Design Miami/ Basel.
About Arts Co
Arts Co has been variously described as a ‘platform for talent’ and a ‘unique provider of solutions across the arts.’ Founded by Isabella Macpherson and Sigrid Wilkinson in 2007 Arts Co has its own curating programme, and connects individuals and companies with artists, designers and architects.
‘Waste Not Want Not’ is the latest in a series of specially commissioned art and design projects that bring the best of emerging international talent into the heart of Bloomberg’s London office.
Commissioned by Bloomberg Philanthropy ‘Waste Not Want It’ provides a platform for some of the UK’s most dynamic artists and designers through the commission of unique furniture and art installations made almost entirely out of Bloomberg’s own waste. From cable flex to cardboard boxes, keyboards to computer mice, the waste materials traditionally stored in Bloomberg’s off site warehouses have been startlingly reinvented into technically innovative and environmentally responsible chairs, tables and interactive art works to excite and stimulate the employees and visitors who interact with them from the moment they enter the building.
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