Almer and my grandfather reveal what is still present of the past. The memories, stories and laughter that had been lost were found. Alzheimer breaks down the brain cells, the neural connections, and is at the moment incurable. Oddly it is the highest leading cause of death in the Netherlands, so this project creates scenarios […]
Porcelain origami; there is nothing that intrigues my perfectionism more that the mathematical beauty of Japanese origami.
For this piece that was entirely derived from my perfectionism I wanted to turn paper into porcelain. I created a Japanese 30 piece modular origami object called a “Kusudama”, that was designed by Narong Krined. Then with a lot of trial and error I succeeded into created a mould for this delicate paper piece, which made it possible for me to turn the shape into porcelain.
As part of the group exhibition and the “Fighting Perfectionism” collection I created for the Dutch Design Week 2019 I made these Lotus flower inspired plates.
Anything can be a plate with some imagination, right? Inspired by lotus flowers, but one can also see this as pelvic bone, two lungs or ears. It can be whatever you fancy. To me, they are flowers; a free form that I created as part of my research into perfectionism and self critique. See how one of them is actually broken? Well, that is my favorite part of this set, it makes them unique and shows my handprint.
A ceramic tableware set I created for a group exhibition “Elephant in the Room” at Beeldenstorm Eindhoven, during Dutch Design Week 2019.
What if…? What if…? All these thoughts that keep coming up in my brain, always searching to achieve something “perfect”… however, only at the end does one realize that perfection does not exist. It takes over our lives without us even knowing, until we discover that it was never about perfection.
This ceramic piece is a manifestation of these thoughts and this vicious mind cycle.
We should think kinder thoughts to ourselves while we live and create. We would never say these things to others, so why to ourselves? My self critiques are permanently written on my porcelain bowls, even though they are not at all kind, they remind me to be. At the same time I am grateful for these thoughts, because they let me make many beautiful ceramic and glass pieces I would have never made otherwise. What a teacher these ceramics became over the last few months…
In 2018 I created an art installation together with John Shen (Yuanhan). We wrote a Manifest of Light, that was played out loud during the melting of our art installation.
LIGHT GUIDES ALL LIFE, IT IS ALL ENERGY, IT IS OUR SOURCE
EVERYTHING IS LIGHT; LOVE, PAIN, BELIEF, KNOWLEDGE, NATURE, OUR SOULS
SUN CREATES LIGHT AND WARMTH THAT GIVES ALL ENERGY TO EARTH & ALL LIFE
LIGHT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE, OF ALL, THE UNIVERSAL CREATOR
LIGHT IS IN US ALL, IT IS OUR NATURE, OUR INTUITION; WHICH WE ALL SHARE
LIGHT TOUCHES MIND & SOUL
LIGHT FUSES ALL HUMAN SENSES, FOR LIGHT IS ALL SENSES IN ONE
THE RITUAL GUIDES YOU WITH LIGHT, THROUGH LIFE
