Connecting My Interests With My Hobby
When I started making ceramics, there was one aspect of the creation that wasn’t difficult for me. Or rather, not in the way that many would think. This is ideation.
My interests are very diverse, and I often unknowingly delve deeper and deeper into new topics. This was the case with porcelain, but fortunately had been with many other things as well. I had - and still have - a lot of ideas on how to make the everyday experience of drinking coffee and tea more special.
The problem for me was choosing the few ideas to implement first. I originally wanted to begin with two designs, but it turned out to be three, because of the many others, these were my three ceramic designs that I couldn't put aside: the Universe, the No Planet B, and the Diamond design.
Universe Design
A glass of water takes a spherical shape when released into weightlessness. The dust and stones also coalesce into spheres in space. We live on one of these, we call it Earth. Moons, rocky planets, gas giants, stars... The sphere is the most perfect shape in the Universe.
Every piece of the Universe design is a planet, with or without a ring.
I have always been interested in astronomy. There are endless things to explore. We are already exploring, we are plunging into its depths with our telescopes, and suddenly we feel small. Then we realize that there is nothing else like Earth on the current horizon, and that makes us feel great again. Our feet have barely left Mother Earth, yet, it is already a challenge to assess how many challenges still await us.
My first ceramics belonged to Universe design.
I made them for my family as a Christmas present. I didn't tell them that I started making ceramics. I just worked on them for months. I could fire them at the last moment. It was an incredible feeling when I opened the kiln and saw my shiny porcelain planets inside. Then I made the cement plates and everything came together.
I even made a coffee in one of them and just enjoyed it for a while. My first own cup I could drink coffee from. These pieces were not perfect, the handle was different which wasn’t a lucky choice, but they were already there, in front of my eyes.
I couldn't wait to give them to my family. I only told them these are handmade pieces. They liked them very much, they started trying them out, turned them in their hands, put them on the table, lifted the cup from the plate, and then put it back.
"Very beautiful"
"Clean design"
"They look like planets"
"Innovative"
There was no logo or signature on them, so came the question:
"Who makes these?"
And the answer shocked them all. They didn't want to believe it.
Universe design is porcelain and cement. Rustic, yet minimalist, clean and perfect. The surface of the cement is always different, and no two colored mugs are exactly the same either. Each coffee set is unique and unrepeatable.
No Planet B Design
The most important message!
The name of the design speaks for itself. There is no need to explain. At least there shouldn't be.
Since elementary school, I have been filled with sadness every time I read or hear about another animal species on the brink of extinction.
Today, devastating articles are written about the last individuals of animals or even their death, which cannot be ignored. Northern white rhinoceros, Lonesome George, the last individual of the Pinta Island giant tortoise, the Yangtze dolphin, the Spix’s macaw...
The list is sadly long and we do not see the end of it. What could be under the surface? What we don't see, what we don't hear about? Because newspapers don't write about them, they are not cute, they are not adorable, but they're just as important parts of nature. Today we are talking about the fact that our bees, which carry out pollination, are also in danger. How will we have food? Crops that we can maintain and eat?
Everything happens before our very eyes. Previously, such a mass extinction took thousands or even millions of years. Today we are in the middle of one, we are the cause, and we cannot stop it.
On the pieces of No Planet B design, you will find majestic animals that could disappear from the face of the Earth. If we saved them, we would also save many others with whom they share their habitat.
I have selected small scenes from nature, the silhouettes of whose protagonists I create from porcelain. The savannah, the jungle, the ocean are the figment of your imagination, what you will see when you look at the cup. Whales swim in my tea, a pair of macaws land next to my coffee, a silverback gorilla patrols around his family, elephants come to the river... I could go on and on.
I had been thinking for long about whether to get into this topic at all.
Among the ceramic materials, porcelain is the most difficult to work with, let alone trimming the silhouettes of small animals on a mug, especially if one or the other is located inside the mug. But I couldn't leave this idea behind. Everyone was nagging me to start only with the other two designs, but this one was too important. I threw myself into the preparations. Long work, a lot of effort, annoyance and struggle began, but in the end it was worth it.
Drinking from such a mug is the most special experience! Every day I share one of my coffees with an endangered beauty of nature.
Animals are part of the mug, strong and durable. Porcelain is the strongest ceramic material. They can be washed by hand or in a machine.
Diamond Design
Irregularly regular. They are symmetrical from one direction, asymmetrical from the other. Harmonious combinations of edges and sides.
The diamond design is not inherently a clean design. It took time for this to become one.
From this viewpoint, it is the opposite of Universe design. It started from the other end and evolved into the same place. Minimalistic and elegant.
The idea was always in my mind, I had no doubt that I would create them. It took a lot of planning to get every edge, peak, and side of every piece where it needed to be. I imagined a world of shapes in which each piece has different proportions, yet they form a family. Which differs from anything that is usual, but does not lose any of its functionality.
Architectural forms, they radiate stability and strength, but there is also something light in their appearance.
It definitely frames your coffee or tea differently. The diamond design is different from any cup or mug that can be placed on the table. But it wants to be different. And I let it be.