The Pet Lamp Pikul, from Thailand
Álvaro Catalán de Ocón's ceramic baskets break the barriers of materials , which merge in a chaotic and unpredictable journey of exploration, with no defined course, in a time machine invented by himself.
This trip starts from the ancestral confrontation of basketry and ceramics. Álvaro, one of the most recognized Spanish designers in the world, is inspired by the ancestral roots of man's daily life and sets them free in the digital world.
His serene countenance hides a radical background, an extreme creative sensitivity that stems from an idea of design linked to social commitment and improvement of the environment , without concessions.
The basketry It was –and still is in many places on earth– a way to carry food , to provide them with a safe form of transport, in contact with the air.
On the contrary, the ceramics provided a way to Store and transport in sealed containers. Both have coexisted with these differentiated functions in the daily life of different civilizations.
Catalán de Ocón has spent years elevating basketry to the most advanced and innovative level of contemporary design
History and archeology have conferred a higher rank on ceramics for the simple fact that it subsists over time. Sometimes, a single pottery shard helps date an entire site.
Their shapes give names to cultures that have occurred in Europe and the Mediterranean since the Neolithic.
Today, this material provides a way to learn about the origins of an indigenous community and their ways of life.
Design from the heart of Colombia
On the contrary, basketry, composed of vegetable fibers, disappears. For this reason, it has been considered a "minor" craft.
Álvaro Catalán de Ocón has been raising basketry to the most advanced and innovative level for years of contemporary design with Pet Lamps .
The concept has given a twist to the idea of craftsmanship linked to design and, at the same time, has been linked with social and ecological projects.
The journey, which began in 2011 and has taken him to the five continents, continues his Evolutionary process.
Álvaro and his team in Ethiopia
This project, developed with the collaboration of indigenous communities, government institutions and museums , turns traditional basketry into lamps. An ingenious mechanism weaves the plant fibers into plastic bottles and into the LED bulb.
they are l lamps-message , each one raises a manifesto in its composition and in its light. It is a powerful and forceful message: the beauty of the authentic, of simple materials seen from another perspective, of manual labor that incorporates waste into an innovative design.
And from this project, to a new vision: join basketry to pottery. “We have worked thoroughly with the Talavera school of ceramics to achieve irregular and imperfect finishes. guide us the beauty of the transgressive, of the chaotic, discovering unthinkable shapes and colors”.
Aboriginal crafts in Australia
In the last phase of this new initiative, Álvaro and his team have invented a machine to drive ceramic pieces according to the outlined coordinates.
It is about designing by blurring, building by deforming, to eliminate meaning and stay with sensitivity.
A programmed artifact weaves a copper lattice over a clay pot. Upon entering the kiln, the materials melt, oxidation unites their colors and the grid is marked on the ceramic material. Glazing unifies, creates the object.
Ceramics Cu has been presented for the first time in the “salons” of the design gallery of Rossana Orlandi in Milan and has broken expectations.
A waiting list of months has been generated to get hold of these delicate and radical pieces, ceramic baskets that take a creative journey to a good destination.
Ceramics Cu has broken all expectations