Design | “Heavy Stack” in Milan is where Architecture Touches Design

MILAN, Italy — Anne Dorthe Vester and Maria Bruun, a Danish architect and designer, respectively, have been collaborating together since 2012 as MBADV. Their work, they say, comes from a “cross section” between architecture, design and art. They focus on abstractions, functional hybrids and on the “aesthetics of materials and form in relation to the surrounding spaces.”

Heavy Stack was one of those hybrids, a cross between architecture and design. It exhibited at MINDCRAFT16 in Milan this year. The duo described the concept and philosophy behind the works of contemporary ceramic art and design. They’re not intended to be functional, but by comparing their component disciplines one can see how architecture feeds into design and vice-versa. They state:

Heavy Stack is an experimental series of objects that explores the potentials of form, materials and aesthetics. The objects are made of hollow extruded ceramic rings stacked on top of each other, almost like bricks, around a load-bearing oak construction. The main structural inspiration came from architectural principles and structures, while the materials and the finish point more to furniture making and crafts. Thus, function is not the goal here but instead served as a source of inspiration for form, construction and materials.

The production process combines elements from industrial production and crafts: The ceramic rings were made on a brickworks extrusion machine fitted with a special nozzle, while the resulting tubes were shaped into circular or oval rings by hand. The series is part of the duo’s ongoing exploration of the potentials of ceramic elements as a structural component in furniture, combined in this case with a new-found fascination with the process and potentials of extrusion.

Do you love or loathe these works of contemporary ceramic art and design? Let us know in the comments.