By Jeanne Tan /asdf 10-12-2009

"The fascination for this work is collecting, because of its absurd but refined uselessness, but even more because of the dizzying proportions that a collection can evolve to."

What do people collect? What does a collection mean these days? Why do people collect? For Judith Montens' new crockery series called Five Star Crockery, the Amsterdam-based designer looked to the rituals of collecting for inspiration. "The fascination for this work is collecting, because of it’s absurd but refined uselessness, but even more because of the dizzying proportions that a collection can evolve to. Through objects like the cabinet of curiosities, collecting was once a way to show your vision of the world," explains Montens. "Over time, collecting has become more of an urge than a vision; nowadays it seems more a desire just to possess. With the knowledge of these collections, my goal was to make showpieces that exist within my world. Like their collections, these objects are stripped of their function and become an art object or a trophy."

Extravagant and well-publicised collections these days are perhaps most likely to be seen from today's wealthy celebrities, who provided much fodder to start thinking about the works. "The concept of this project reaches back to the Middle Ages, when the nobility — the celebrities of the time —presented their wealth in their tableware. Showpieces would tell a history, present wealth and would often contain a miniature representation of all their objects. With the Five-star Crockery, it is my goal to think about a complete table setting that eventually represents the overall wealth of a collection, in this case the collection of a celebrity."

The first two crockery series are based on TV host Jay Leno's collection of cars and Johhny Depp's bizarre collection of rare insects. But why the collection of celebrities? "The main reason is that most of the objects that are part of their collections are things of everyday use to us. For me having one car is a necessity, having two would be a dream but having more, why? It dazzled me when I saw pictures of Jay Leno's collection with hundreds of cars, motorcycles and trucks in a 10,000 square meter big hall. It's so much that the car almost becomes an abstraction." The car plates depict accidents and incidents, with features like oil slicks, tyres and piled-up cars highlighted in real gold.

More collections are set to follow. And Montens' next celebrity targets? "Next on my short list is John Travolta because he collects planes, and not just scale models, as some of us did once in our lives, but real planes. Every boundary is lost, and that is what determines my next choice." Also on her list is Angelina Jolie who collects knives and Nicolas Cage with his stash of comic books.

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