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FEBRUARY 2012:
Bottino featured in the January issue of Brazilian VOGUE |
SEPTEMBER 2011:
Together with Cacao Magazine and Ajkay my work was shown at the Designer's Week in Taipei, Taiwan. Take a closer look at the work >> |
JUNE 2011:
Next part of the Forbidden City project just became possible through a generous funding from Statens Kunstfond and the Helge Ax:son Johnsons foundation. A lot of the work with developing new souvenirs is based on research and sketching - something that doesn't generate any income but is the most important part of the proces. Often time is hard to find, which limits the effort spent on developing new products in detail. Some things deserve much more concentration - especially if you want to create something that lasts a little longer! Working with The Palace Museum is an honour and I wish I had all the time in the world to make it as good as possible... I mean - it is the Forbidden City!!! Thanks to people like Helge Ax:son Johnson this just became easier...
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MAY 2011:
Back in Scandinavia and in the studio... I am setting up an exciting new collaboration and just finished the first collection in our own new brand - Ting Dynasty. I really enjoy discovering the personality of a new label - it always has a life of it's own which you just need to unravel. Now we are busy setting up sites, talking with agents and planning our next move for the jewellery collection. Travelling and working in China just keeps getting better and better and there can't be any other place more interesting for designer's right now.
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27/5 My work with paper cutting continues - this time it is the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac that are coming to life in the studio. The first prototype cup and decoration was made in Jingdezhen and taken to Beijing. It proved to be a hit and is now completed with the rest of the gang for a set of 12 souvenir cups.
It is funny how this project links to the HC Andersen by being papercuts and merchandise - a niche I for some reason find extremely interesting! Working with it might give me more time to figure out what it is I cannot get enough of! Except paper cutting - I already know why I love that!
I aim to balance the Chinese and the Scandinavian which I find in so many of the traditional folk cuts made all over China. Folk art seem to be related all over the world which is probably why I find them so interesting.
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APRIL 2011:
My studio is now in China again and it is great to be back! I spent some time in Beijing on the way for research and inspiration and have now arrived to Jingdezhen. The Pottery Workshop is still a great place to do work, and I am happy to see so many friends again among with new people from all over the world. The city is changing rapidly and high buildings have popped out of nowhere, only since my last visit in October. You can't help seeing how massive the growth is, although I spend most my time in the small workshops around the Sculpture Factory. Souvenirs and jewellery are on the agenda and slipcasting will begin next week, when the mouldmakers are done with turning the drawings the recieved today into plaster moulds.
This place fits me like a glove and I already wish I could stay longer! |
15/4 Spending a week in Beijing made me fall even more in love with China. Meeting spring in this city was a pleasure to experience - huge magnolias blossoming and soft light through new baby green leaves against grey and lacquer red buildings.
I went researching in the Forbidden City and will develop new souvenirs and jewellery inspired by the imperial collections.
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MARCH 2011:
Spring is the time for new beginnings, sprouts and nurture. Seing sun again is amazing after a long winter with so many dark and cold months! My next trip to China is getting closer - tickets are booked and it is time to plan the projects through. Pieces seem to fall into place almost by themselves, and I am excited to dive into new adventures...
Meanwhile I am invited as a guest teacher at Kunsthøjskolen in Holbæk for a month. I have always enjoyed teaching and it is fantastic to get an opportunity to do it in such amazing surroundings with engaged students and inspiring colleagues. Twelve years age I went to my first art school - Thorstedlund Kunsthøjskole - so it is interesting to be here in a different setting...
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8/8 The Art High School in Holbæk.Twelve years age I went to my first art school - Thorstedlund Kunsthøjskole - so it is interesting to be here in a different setting... My class focuses on the process of how to get from ideas to products, and how to work with scenarios, users, models, sketches and presentation.
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FEBRUARY 2011:
January has been a moth of painting, playing and planning - and now the coming year seams to be laid out. First up is a month of teaching at Holbæk Kunsthøjskole in Denmark which is a truly amazing place. I am looking forward to sharing my thoughts on design with the students - and to experince new stuff with them!
This year also holds some more China in it - I hope to go back to Jingdezhen a.s.a.p. since I miss this ceramic paradise and have become addicted to the people of that place (especially the mouldmaker!!). I am hoping that the year of rabbit will be a productive one - and that my plans on starting a small production of my own will work out...
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1/1 For a long time I have had this vision of painted objects - with rough brush strokes and blank areas. I have been sketching and painting on paper and now it was time to translate it to porcelain. I enjoy using traditional methods to create new epxressions. Being inspired by other areas is often a good way to combine something well known in a new way - and it is something craftsmen and artist have been doing for centuries. The first models are painted in overglaze blues, greens and black on a clear glazed porcelain body. I like the visible strokes that show the hand painted quality, and how the contrast between the colours and the areas left unpainted make them both pop out.
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JANUARY 2011:
The new year begins with color and gold!! Decorating all the things I made in China is exciting, and the kiln fires every day with new experiments. I brought back tools and materials from Jingdezhen so I can continue what I began over there. However the special oil solution they use is changed for something a little less fuming, which keeps the air fresh... Probably not as good but definitely healthier!
As always new ideas emerge when you get in to some hands-on action and it's always a party to open the lid of the kiln and see the finished result! Two new series are being born these days, and can be seen under EdT and Turned Profiles.
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7/1 Bringing home a box of fired porcelain proved to be a hit! Now it's 'painting-by-numbers' in the studio, coloring all the blanks! This week has been focusing on reds and lustre, which can be tricky to fire but have turned out rich and vivid after a few testrounds. I brought home some overglaze color from Jingdezhen and already regret not bringing back more! There was esepcially a beautiful pink that cost a fortune but is absolutely gorgeous and would look a million with pitch black and gold...
Check out the painted result... >>
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DECEMBER 2010:
Winter is here! And so is all the china from China... It takes almost two months to ship a crate from Jingdezhen to Scandinavia, but finally it arrived - in freezing winter! In under an hour we managed to empty everything and take the crate a part. Now everything is in the studio and I am unwrapping all the pieces. It is like Christmas! i made a lot of new prototypes and moulds during my stay in Jingdezhen, and next step is to work on decorations.
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3/12 One cubic metre of porcelain and plaster moulds - planted outside the studio, in the snow! Now it is Christmas time unwrapping all the pieces... It seems that nothing is broken which always is a miracle when you ship fragile stuff acroos the world...
December is 100% studio time and I can't wait to start playing with decorations.
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NOVEMBER 2010:
Autumn means beautiful days in Sweden & Denmark, with plenty of time for digesting new impressions and ideas picked up abroad... The darkness outdoors (sun sets at four o'clock already!) inspires me to venture into the virtual worlds and update websites, connect with people met abroad, browse for inspiration and prepare for hibernation...
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OCTOBER 2010:
Just returned from China and a residency at the Pottery Workshop in the city of Jingdezhen. The trip was fantastic and covered Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing as well as the Jianxi province, where the world's porcelain capital is situated. I immediately want to go back to this city that seem to me planned by a ceramicist on acid. Labyrinths of chards, brush makers, painters, mould makers, ragged dogs and Mao statues haunt my dreams and keep me hungry for more.
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| 18/10: Visiting Nanjing to oversee the production of HC Andersen merchandise was exciting - hopefully we can see the long awaited result soon. It is rewarding to meet the people behind production face to face and eliminate some of the distance you deal with as a product designer in today's globalized world. The HCA project is proof that when pushing technical boundaries you have to be patient - it has actually been five years since I first experimented with papercuts and porcelain! After all this time I still love this project though, and it is worth being perfectionist about getting it right. |
16/10: Picking up fired ware at the public kiln in Jingdezhen is always exciting. People gather around inspecting the production and asking curious questions about the whiteness of the body and glaze...
Due to heavy rain the project was delayed and most of the work had to go straight from the kiln to the crate - all in one day! At one point I actually worried a bit bout the porcelain being too hot for the bubble wrap - imagine that! I had tremendous help from The Pottery Workshop, and we managed to get over 200 pieces packed and ready in a couple of hours - fantastic! |
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SEPTEMBER 2010:
Spent one month at the Rörstrand Kulturforum - Ceramic Centre for Contemporary Design. I've been digging through the porcelain collections and scetching on new products. One of my projects was an investigation carried out with fellow ceramicist Christin Johansson. Read more about the project 'Ostindia - who cares'. >>
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18/8: Digging through the archives of the Rörstrand porcelain factory... The basement holds treasures since the 18th century up til more modern icons like the work of Carl-Harry Stålhane for instance. Truly inspiring !
I wish to return and spend more time looking in to the remains of the Swedish ceramic production that now seems to be history already... Rörstrand has no production in Sweden, and the future for industrial ceramics in Scandinavia is indeed changing these days. One thing that really strikes me as a loss from those days is the knowledge in glazes. How can we venture outside of the clear glaze and decal decorations that now seem to overtake any other technique. Designers today choose color from Pantone codes - is that really enough for ceramics?! You should think printing on paper and making porcelain slightly different processes - but not so much any more... I wish I could travel in time and spend a few days at Rörstrand in the 50's and experience life as a product designer in those days...
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AUGUST 2010:
The project '100% China' has just received a generous grant from Danish Crafts. The trip to Jingdezhen, China aims to develop new products as well as researching the possibilities for production. Read more about the project in this article by Danish Crafts. >>
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