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(Archive) Balotta & The Self Portrait

Side tables and vases – which also function as self portraits – made of ceramics.

This project was part of DDW 2024
Balotta yellow

Our approach is based on a central vision: the thematization, testing and redefinition of ceramic material. In our projects, ceramics are used as a starting material to give everyday objects a new perspective.

Furniture and Self Portraits – all in ceramics!

Balotta is a woven ceramic table which, due to its open and permeable design, also takes on a wafting, loose and airy character. The tables are made of 100% ceramic and the series is constantly growing. Each table is different, but the idea of the series remains the same. The net-like, woven design with ceramic and the intense, almost graffiti-like colors make the ceramics appear unusually candy and pop-like. This effect is more than intentional: We try to evoke unusual but possible ceramic properties in order to give the ceramics a less natural look, but a far more artificial approach.

The Faccia vase series is the realization of a thought experiment based on the following question: How would a designer create a self-portrait?
Self-portraits are well-known from art-history; think of DΓΌrer, Rembrandt or Kahlo. However, working as a Designer with ceramics made us ask: But what do designers do when they want to create a self-portrait like the old masters did? With this project, also called "Self-portraits as a vasportraits as a vase" we try to transfer this classical topic to the current field of product design: the synthesis of a topos of art history with an utility object.

The Self portrait as a vase

Three Balotte and Igor

Balotta yellow