By Gabrielle Kennedy / 27-11-2008

After her successful showing at this year’s Inside Design Amsterdam, Maaike Roozenburg continues to avoid the industrial, the predictable and the monotonous.

Bursting at the seams, Roozenburg decided it was time to clear out her studio. First to hit the rubbish dump was a pile of early prototypes of her latest work.  Then she went for a walk.

“When I returned, the pots were all gone,” she says.  “Every one of them had been pinched, which was the greatest compliment of all.”

It was a good sign for Roozenburg’s pots, which were nearing the end of an arduous production journey that at times looked destined to fail.

It all started when Roozenburg spent time working alongside an archeologist who had excavated some old, Dutch kitchen vessels from the early Middle Ages.  “Something about them really touched me,” she says, “and I wanted to analyze why.”

The pots appeared to come in three sizes - a cooking pot, a jar and a bowl – and were uneven, clunky and covered in finger marks because no spinning wheel was used to make them.  “When you think about how companies use the word multifunctional today, it’s ridiculous,” Roozenburg says.  “It’s just a sales pitch because back then kitchen appliances were much more multifunctional than the electric applicances we are used to.”

Looking more closely at how the pots were made, Roozenburg was struck by their uniqueness, especially when compared to the repetitive and industrialized objects around today.

She started to make vessels by hand.  Purposely clumsy, each piece felt like a character with its own indents, and awkward silhouette.  “I somehow managed to make my pieces look even uglier than the originals,” she says, going on to describe the finished pieces as sculptures of utensils.

Later, Roozenburg teamed up with a Dutch bonsai grower whose creations sat well with the pots which she was now calling “Vaetwerk”, an old Dutch term for crockery. Together they exhibited their work at Woonbeurs 2007.  Their tormented narrative instantly caught the attention of Moooi’s founder and creative director, Marcel Wanders.

“He came up to me and said they are great and that he’d like them for Moooi,” Roozenburg says.  “But I told him it was impossible because they couldn’t be produced.  Afterwards I was sort of kicking myself and realizing that from a commercial perspective my response had been really stupid.”

But still, Roozenburg was adamant that Vaetwerk should never be made from moulds.  “I couldn't let go of the handmade aspect,” she explains.  “Marcel agreed and said it was that characteristic that also impressed him.”

Wanders, however, wanted the pots and told Roozenburg to wait and that he’d find a way to make it work.

In early meetings various possibilities were discussed like producing a basic collection of elements for the makers to randomly combine together into bowls, pots and jars.  “Each piece would be unique, but the archetypical appearance would have disappeared,” Roozenburg says.

But as promised, Wanders found a way.  “He called and said he had found a small factory in the Ukraine were people were still making ceramics by hand,” Roozenburg says.

Initially a series of twelve was made but with mixed results.  “The objects look like a four year old could make them,” Roozenburg says.  “They are rough and childlike, but there they are actually very difficult to make because they are not clumsy but just made to look clumsy and those first attempts didn’t capture that.”

Wanders and Roozenburg poured over the pieces and wrote reams of corrections and recommendations.  “We even thought we could tell which were made by men and which were made by women,” she says.  “And you could definitely tell which were made by the same hands.”

Then they waited until a fortnight ago when the new shipment arrived.

Roozenburg is thrilled.  “They are beautiful,” she says.  “Nicer, no sharp edges and more subtle.”  She had the pieces fired at a hotter than normal temperature, which makes the clay slightly melt and leaves a sheen.

Roozenburg says the Vaetwerk series is design, not art. “They are designed to be used and can even be put directly onto a flame,” she says.  The distinction will be reflected in the cost of the pots, which go on sale this January in Moooi boutiques.

Which doesn’t leave much time to solve the last obstacle: the Vaetwerk pieces are too heavy to be packaged in the regular Moooi boxes.  No doubt Wanders will find the solution and the series will be available as scheduled.

Add to favorites