CLAY
. . . FINGERPRINTS FOUND IN FIRED CLAY ARE PROOF OF THE PERSON KNOWING, LOVING AND MAKING
. . . MANIPULATING, FIRING THE HUMBLE MUD MAKES ME TOUCH THE DIVINE
. . . IT IS PROOF OF LIFE, LOVE, KNOWING
. . . MY WILL TO MAKE
SERIOUS CERAMICS AND
PLAYFUL DESIGNS
Welcome to Works, the site celebrating an individual and intense commitment to ceramics
THE JOURNEY IS MORE INVIGORATING THAN ARRIVING AND WORK SHOULD BE A JOURNEY
32 years shuffled
a video-impression of the work I did in my professional life up to 2012.
I hope you enjoy!
3:30 minutes. Fast and sweet.
In a few months I hope to find the time to update this little movie and add a few of the newer pieces.
Stay tuned!
A few words on
my art and love for porcelain.
The early days
1980-1984
Casting-techniques taught at the Amsterdam Rietveld Academy was the main reason I studied there. To pour vast numbers out of each mould was the ideology I embraced as it meant you could sell your modern, personal, well executed shapes at lower prices. I wanted my objects to be loved in as many houses as possible, so, I mastered casting, model-making, mould-making and found my 'design-language' in those four years.
Soon, however, I found that industry was better suited for 'pooring out quantity', rather than me. In my studio I from then onwards focussed on unique pieces, using industrial techniques.
Soon, however, I found that industry was better suited for 'pooring out quantity', rather than me. In my studio I from then onwards focussed on unique pieces, using industrial techniques.
Eggshell porcelain
1981-2005
Why was I so focused on porcelain? Well, its translucency, smoothness, hardness and overall beauty. Not to forget history, how it came from China and Japan to Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, the excitement it raised, how it was collected by the powerful and super-rich and how the West sought to copy these fine eastern wares, resulting in Meissen, Wedgwood, Sèvres, to name just a few.
I craved to be in that tradition, for me there is no material more exciting to work with… So, the moment I left artschool, I wanted to explore the translucency above all and I developed exciting new ways of making the thinnest porcelains in layers.
I craved to be in that tradition, for me there is no material more exciting to work with… So, the moment I left artschool, I wanted to explore the translucency above all and I developed exciting new ways of making the thinnest porcelains in layers.
Reconstructions of the Remains of the Holy Grail
1986-1998
In this period each year several of these sculptures were added. More than anything else I ever did, these works were cries from the gut. No pre-designed concept, never. They 'just happened'. Each and every time, totally free from language, free from logic or intellectual considerations even, I allowed myself to play a role only in the final stages of the execution.
Of the 109 Reconstructions I made, only some 60 survived the fire or my scrutiny. These works were fired up to seven times to obtain the complex glazes and each time they ran a risk of cracking in the kiln. The remaining ones I am well proud of as they are so bloody complex, both of meaning and techniques, it is a miracle for so many to have survived. Their insides covered in 22 Ct gold or platinum lustre, these objects echo so many stories I still cannot even begin to explain...
Of the 109 Reconstructions I made, only some 60 survived the fire or my scrutiny. These works were fired up to seven times to obtain the complex glazes and each time they ran a risk of cracking in the kiln. The remaining ones I am well proud of as they are so bloody complex, both of meaning and techniques, it is a miracle for so many to have survived. Their insides covered in 22 Ct gold or platinum lustre, these objects echo so many stories I still cannot even begin to explain...
15 claims - the Art of Climate Change
2009-2011
Palpable lust for experiment in these works. Porcelain in its roughest form with torn off parts, exploded edges, tension cracks and an icy floating glaze deals with the uneasy fact of thirteen countries and two oil companies holding claims on North and South Poles.
The concept of climate change put in chaotic yet aesthetic 'lumps' of porcelain…
High-fired ice that may never melt, surrounded by a floating glaze, suggesting the rising sea... These are no icebergs and yet it shouts: iceberg...
High-fired ice that may never melt, surrounded by a floating glaze, suggesting the rising sea... These are no icebergs and yet it shouts: iceberg...
The Runghold Traces
2014-2016
Thick clear and crackled glaze with a minute amount of porcelain, these works truly do celebrate the power of archaeology, of curiosity and imagination of those who seek and interpret the traces people have left behind. We leave traces, no matter how small, no matter how big. The knowledge to be part of a continuum of development from single cell creatures to complex thinking beings in complex societies, we owe it all to curiosity.
Science and art alike, the ever-pulsating energy to want to know, understand and master, is what makes us an amazing species indeed
Science and art alike, the ever-pulsating energy to want to know, understand and master, is what makes us an amazing species indeed
The Full Circle
2017-2019
It truly 'all comes together' in these works. Porcelain regains its dominant role where needed and is submerged in the thickest glaze where it is not. The circles may not be full, in spite of the title. Fullness is a concept, ready to be adapted, opened up and ready to be 'read' by you, who looks at the pictures or indeed the works themselves and completes...
Uncertain as I was, my restless mind always won. Never follow, curiosity is key, never repeat yourself and never work up to expectations. Art is free. It has to be free. Always.
Uncertain as I was, my restless mind always won. Never follow, curiosity is key, never repeat yourself and never work up to expectations. Art is free. It has to be free. Always.
Impressions filter down, mix with experiences, take years to surface
so we can drink from the well of memory
IT ALL STARTED IN YIXING, CHINA
Teapots & Tpots, an ongoing story.
Not only is Yixing generally seen as the 'birthplace' of the teapot, for me it is the place where I learned to appreciate the little wonders of style and functionality.
The 1996 "First Annual Yixing Symposium for Western Potters" invited 19 potters/ceramists from the USA, Australia and Europe. I was one of only 3 from Europe.
In the year leading up tp the event I had imagined a small variety of possible and impossible Tpots, using CAD/CAM (1995!) and the pictures of these renderings were printed in Purple Sands Magazine, prior to the happening.
Together with 4 masters we made 4 stunning teapots. This was the first time eastern pre-industrial craft traditions came eye to eye with western exploratory vistas of the information age.
FUCKING UP THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM (FUFS), 15 CLAIMS, LANDSCAPES, TRACES AND THE FULL CIRCLE
The sculptural Works
From 2011 up to today.
'the Full Circle #8' – 2019
Size 51 x 43 x 4.5 cm. Clear, greenish glaze, fused with porcelain.
Size 51 x 43 x 4.5 cm. Clear, greenish glaze, fused with porcelain.
the Rungholt Traces #0' – 2014
Size 34 x 36 x 3 cm. Partially cracked glaze fused with porcelain.
Size 34 x 36 x 3 cm. Partially cracked glaze fused with porcelain.
A Blue Reflexion #3' – 2013
Size 44 x 38 x 15 cm. Floating celadon in heavy porcelain.
Size 44 x 38 x 15 cm. Floating celadon in heavy porcelain.
'FUFS3 #1' – 2011
Size 33.5 x 34 x 25 cm. Bohemian porcelain, 22 Ct gold lustre.
Eames lounge chair + ottoman
Designers: Herman Miller
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN, CAD/CAM AND A NEVER ENDING CURIOSITY
Objects produced at Rosenthal, Germany and at Flora, the Netherlands
1980, a year before my graduation, I was accepted as an apprentice at Rosenthal’s in Selb, Germany.
The vase-series I made there, made me a free lance designer for the next 5 years. During this period several designs (a plate, vases and bowls, as well as two designs for glass) were taken into production, a great honor/opportunity for a young ceramist. “Designing for industry is like painting with a huge brush, your ideas pass you by in their thousands on a trolley… That is brilliant!
But I find no fun in making multiples in my own studio. It takes a lot of energy at the expense of creativity. My preference is to make unique pieces. I can pour my story and all of my emotions in those pieces. It then also takes only one person who is able to read my piece, it takes only one to understand.
The vase-series I made there, made me a free lance designer for the next 5 years. During this period several designs (a plate, vases and bowls, as well as two designs for glass) were taken into production, a great honor/opportunity for a young ceramist. “Designing for industry is like painting with a huge brush, your ideas pass you by in their thousands on a trolley… That is brilliant!
But I find no fun in making multiples in my own studio. It takes a lot of energy at the expense of creativity. My preference is to make unique pieces. I can pour my story and all of my emotions in those pieces. It then also takes only one person who is able to read my piece, it takes only one to understand.
Working for Rosenthal lasted 5 years.
From 1987 I work with the Dutch ceramic factory Flora and get some 60 designs in production. It was a lovely creative time with lots of enthusiasm from the side of the producer who took all I had to offer and made our collaboration into a commercial success.
This super period ends in 1991 when the factory was sold. I found no joy in working under the new management.
FLORA, the Netherlands
vase for roses
in production from 1987 to 1991
vase for roses
in production from 1987 to 1991
Rosenthal, Germany
Quadratur and Folio
1981
Quadratur and Folio
1981
Flora, the Netherlands
vase series on triangle foot
in production from 1987 to 1991
vase series on triangle foot
in production from 1987 to 1991
