This September, Thomas Eyck will present ‘Broken Hare’, a new work by Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters. Paper-thin shards of porcelain, carefully supported by foam and thread, form a hare hanging gracefully in a wooden transportation crate. The limited edition of ‘Broken Hare’ will premiere at Maison&Objet in Paris, running from September 6th to the 10th in 2019.
Kolk and Kusters have worked on ‘Broken Hare’ over the last ten years. The first project they ever made together, ‘Broken Hare’ marks the start of their collaboration. As time has passed, the hare has changed form, material, meaning and context; only now, a decade since its inception, has it found its final shape in this limited edition of porcelain.
“We created the first version of the hare for Paper Zoo, an exhibition at MU in Eindhoven in 2009. It was a paper model of a sitting hare held together by small strips of tape. After some time, the adhesive on the tape started to dissolve, so the hare fell apart. When we displayed the remains on a table, the assembled bits of papers still formed the image of a hare, yet now of a hare lying down. Oddly enough, the form appeared somehow more natural and lifelike, and the look of the hare had gained a poetic beauty. Separately, the individual parts looked like paper scraps, but put together, they formed an image of a hare that had fallen into a graceful position achievable only by a real hare. We were very intrigued by this transformation. The original design was broken, but the remains of the paper hare had appeared to have acquired a soul.”
Maarten Kolk and Guus Kusters are no strangers to labour-intensive craftsmanship, but the demands of ‘Broken Hare’ went far beyond even what they consider to be a typical process. The object is created out of dozens of pattern parts made of porcelain paper. The parts are held together with thinner strips of porcelain glued individually by hand with clay slip. To protect their shape during the firing process, the parts are buried in ceramic powder; afterward, the pieces are unearthed and gently cleaned with a brush, as though they were archaeological findings.
“We firmly believe that love, care, effort, attention, blood, sweat and tears all dwell in the object you make. For us, this is how the soul of an object is born. In this project, we wanted to take that conviction to another level. Regardless of the number of hours it would take to make the porcelain hare, we would make it. Maybe even because of the many hours it would take.”
The first version of the porcelain hare was created in 2016 for the exhibition Bal! at the former royal palace of Soestdijk. Maarten Kolk and Guus Kusters were invited to create a site-specific piece for the shooting lane of the late king. Evoking ghosts of the past, the porcelain remains of hares were displayed in the grassy summer overgrowth of the shooting lane. In late 2017, the porcelain hare was added to the collection of renowned design publisher Thomas Eyck. As the hare was too fragile to be exhibited without a surrounding structure, Kolk and Kusters designed a framed version.
“We wanted to enhance the fragility of the hare and to accentuate its melancholic character with a support structure as delicate as the hare itself. Each shard of porcelain is held in place with small custom-made pieces of foam and wool, which are hand-sewn to the frame. Like a tailor making a bespoke suit intended for one special individual only, this is our way of giving even more care and attention to the object itself.”
Maarten Kolk (1980) and Guus Kusters (1979) have often been described as contemporary romantic poets. Their crafts-based work aims to make tangible the fleeting moments of beauty that they observe in the natural landscape. Wistful and gently melancholic, their work seeks to connect the elusive experience of observing beauty with the soul of the object that inspires such gestures of reflection. In this way, their craft unites abstraction with acts of poetic translation, making the imaginary and emotional into something physical and external.
RembrandtLAB is an innovative investigation into colour and the way it is used, with modern designers translating Rembrandt’s use of colour in the seventeenth century to the twenty-first. RembrandtLAB is an initiative of Museum De Lakenhal, the Rembrandt House Museum, Leiden Marketing and Cultuurfonds Leiden, which jointly commissioned designers Maarten Kolk and Guus Kusters to undertake the study. The results of their research—which began in November 2015—are being presented in a series of exhibitions. The first opened in March 2016 in the Rembrandt Lokaal in Leiden, then travelled to the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam in June. ‘Constructing Colours’ will be seen during Dutch Design Week in Kazerne, Eindhoven, where the research into textiles after the legacy of Rembrandt van Rijn will be shown for the first time.
As part of RembrandtLAB 2016, designers Maarten Kolk and Guus Kusters (Studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters) spent a year meticulously researching and analysing Rembrandt’s raw materials, paint layering and recipes, and reconstructing them with alternative materials, techniques and supports. Working from some of Rembrandt’s paintings, they demonstrate how the use of colour and pigments, the raw materials, recipes and colour perception can be reproduced. At the same time they explore modern interpretations in other supports, materials and techniques. Past and present are linked. As Kolk and Kusters explain: ‘In today’s manufacturing industry the range of colour is extremely limited and two-dimensional. Rembrandt was a master of colour. The colours in the paintings were built up with immense care to produce the shades we see. Rembrandt knew precisely how to use raw materials to achieve the perfect colour. We can still learn a lot from this sophisticated preparation and his knowledge of materials. His approach was innovative then and still is now.’
Kolk and Kusters were the first in a series of artists to undertake research in the RembrandtLAB. The RembrandtLAB is an experimental place where creative artists get the chance to investigate Rembrandt’s use of materials.
Studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters
Maarten Kolk (1980) and Guus Kusters (1979) have worked together since 2009. They both graduated cum laude at the Design Academy Eindhoven. They develop their own projects, design exhibitions and act as curators. The poetry they find in nature, history, colour and the landscape forms the basis of their work. They translate this into objects, material applications, exhibitions and innovative production methods.
www.mkgk.nl
RembrandtLAB in Leiden and Amsterdam
The RembrandtLAB was launched at a special historical location—the Rembrandt Lokaal at Langebrug in Leiden, where Rembrandt received his first painting lessons from Jacob van Swanenburgh in 1619. The exhibition opened in the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam on 3 June.
Last year Centrummanagement Leiden was given the chance to use the Rembrandt Lokaal. It was decided to hire this venue because of the unique opportunity to tell the story of Rembrandt in this place and so reinforce the connection between the painter and the city of Leiden. The RembrandtLAB was the first good opportunity to show Rembrandt’s works and working methods in the town where he grew up and learned to paint. The exhibition went on to a place that played a major role in Rembrandt’s life—his house and workshop in Jodenbreestraat in Amsterdam. It is now the Rembrandt House Museum, the historic building where Rembrandt lived and worked between 1639 and 1659. It was there that Rembrandt painted his masterpieces, trained pupils and lived with his family.
Museum De Lakenhal
Museum De Lakenhal is Leiden’s museum for art, applied art and the history of the city. Highlights of the collection include works by old masters such as Lucas van Leyden, Rembrandt van Rijn and Jan Steen, and works by modern artists like Theo van Doesburg, Jan Wolkers and Erwin Olaf. Museum De Lakenhal stages top-flight shows of national and international importance based on sources from Leiden. The museum is an innovative network museum and connects the past and present by inspiring visitors with old and new perspectives.
www.lakenhal.nl
The Rembrandt House Museum Amsterdam
Rembrandt lived and worked in this magnificent house, which is now a museum, between 1639 and 1658. On the basis of an inventory from that period, the house has been restored with seventeenth-century furniture, art and objects. There are etching and paint demonstrations in the Rembrandt House, showing how he worked. The Rembrandt House has an almost complete collection of Rembrandt’s etchings. Temporary exhibitions of work by Rembrandt and his predecessors and contemporaries are often staged in the modern museum wing.
www.rembrandthuis.nl
Leiden Marketing
Leiden Marketing is the organization that aims to put Leiden on the regional, national and international map as the City of Discoveries. It focuses on residents, visitors, and businesses with Culture & Knowledge at its heart.
www.leiden.nl
Centrummanagement Leiden
Centrummanagement Leiden keeps the heart of the city vibrant, attractive and economically successfully for residents, visitors and entrepreneurs. Centrummanagement Leiden hired the Rembrandt Lokaal in collaboration with Leiden City Council and Leiden Marketing. These three organizations are responsible for what happens in the Rembrandt Lokaal.
www.centrumvanleiden.nl
Cultuurfonds Leiden
Cultuurfonds Leiden is a unique investment fund set up to strengthen the culture sector. The fund invests in projects that promote cultural entrepreneurship and stimulates collaboration between the culture sector and other sectors, including the business community and the knowledge sector.
www.cultuurfondsleiden.nl
Initiators
Museum De Lakenhal, the Rembrandt House Museum, Leiden Marketing, Leiden Cultuurfonds
Petria Noble, David de Witt, Leonore van Sloten, Michael Huijser, Anita Soer, Minke Schat, Martijn Bulthuis, Martijn Bosch, Christiaan Vogelaar, Mincke Pijpers, Pieter de Dreu, Sanne Schuurman, Valentine Tollu, Charlotte Caspers, Fons van Laar, Ranti Tjan and reference works by Gary Schwartz, Ernst van de Wetering and Karin Groen.
Colour swatch Jb04 (wool, linnen, cotton, textile dye) based on the sleeve of Rebecca
Rembrandt
‘Portrait of a couple as Isaac and Rebecca’ known as ’The Jewish Bride’
c. 1665 - c. 1669
RembrandtLAB - Constructing Colours
Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters
Commissioned by RembrandtLAB
2016
Textile test Jb01 (wool, linnen, cotton, textile dye) based on the breast of Isaac
Rembrandt
‘Portrait of a couple as Isaac and Rebecca’ known as ’The Jewish Bride’
c. 1665 - c. 1669
Selected colour fragments
Rembrandt
‘Portrait of a couple as Isaac and Rebecca’ known as ’The Jewish Bride’
c. 1665 - c. 1669
RembrandtLAB - Constructing Colours
Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters
RembrandtLAB is an innovative investigation into colour and the way it is used, with modern designers translating Rembrandt’s use of colour in the seventeenth century to the twenty-first. RembrandtLAB is an initiative of Museum De Lakenhal, the Rembrandt House Museum, Leiden Marketing and Cultuurfonds Leiden, which jointly commissioned designers Maarten Kolk and Guus Kusters to undertake the study. The results of their research—which began in November 2015—are being presented in a series of exhibitions. The first opened in March 2016 in the Rembrandt Lokaal in Leiden, then travelled to the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam in June. ‘Constructing Colours’ will be seen during Dutch Design Week in Kazerne, Eindhoven, where the research into textiles after the legacy of Rembrandt van Rijn will be shown for the first time.
As part of RembrandtLAB 2016, designers Maarten Kolk and Guus Kusters (Studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters) spent a year meticulously researching and analysing Rembrandt’s raw materials, paint layering and recipes, and reconstructing them with alternative materials, techniques and supports. Working from some of Rembrandt’s paintings, they demonstrate how the use of colour and pigments, the raw materials, recipes and colour perception can be reproduced. At the same time they explore modern interpretations in other supports, materials and techniques. Past and present are linked. As Kolk and Kusters explain: ‘In today’s manufacturing industry the range of colour is extremely limited and two-dimensional. Rembrandt was a master of colour. The colours in the paintings were built up with immense care to produce the shades we see. Rembrandt knew precisely how to use raw materials to achieve the perfect colour. We can still learn a lot from this sophisticated preparation and his knowledge of materials. His approach was innovative then and still is now.’
Kolk and Kusters were the first in a series of artists to undertake research in the RembrandtLAB. The RembrandtLAB is an experimental place where creative artists get the chance to investigate Rembrandt’s use of materials.
Colour swatch Jb01 (wool, linnen, cotton, textile dye) based on the breast of Isaac
Rembrandt
‘Portrait of a couple as Isaac and Rebecca’ known as ’The Jewish Bride’
c. 1665 - c. 1669
Colour swatch blanket Al05 (wool, linnen, cotton, textile dye) based on the skin tone of the corps
Rembrandt
'The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp’
1632
Selected colour fragments
Rembrandt
'The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp’
1632
Textile test Jb01 (wool, linnen, cotton, textile dye) based on the red beard of Jacob Block
Rembrandt
'The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp’
1632
Colour swatch blanket Al01 (wool, linnen, cotton, textile dye) based on the beard of Jacob Block
Rembrandt
'The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp’
1632
Overview of exhibition RembrandtLAB - Constructing Colours in Rembrandt Lokaal in Leiden
overview of exhibition RembrandtLAB - Constructing Colours in Rembrandt Lokaal in Leiden
overview of exhibition RembrandtLAB - Constructing Colours in Rembrandt Lokaal in Leiden
Studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters
Maarten Kolk (1980) and Guus Kusters (1979) have worked together since 2009. They both graduated cum laude at the Design Academy Eindhoven. They develop their own projects, design exhibitions and act as curators. The poetry they find in nature, history, colour and the landscape forms the basis of their work. They translate this into objects, material applications, exhibitions and innovative production methods.
www.mkgk.nl
RembrandtLAB in Leiden and Amsterdam
The RembrandtLAB was launched at a special historical location—the Rembrandt Lokaal at Langebrug in Leiden, where Rembrandt received his first painting lessons from Jacob van Swanenburgh in 1619. The exhibition opened in the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam on 3 June.
Last year Centrummanagement Leiden was given the chance to use the Rembrandt Lokaal. It was decided to hire this venue because of the unique opportunity to tell the story of Rembrandt in this place and so reinforce the connection between the painter and the city of Leiden. The RembrandtLAB was the first good opportunity to show Rembrandt’s works and working methods in the town where he grew up and learned to paint. The exhibition went on to a place that played a major role in Rembrandt’s life—his house and workshop in Jodenbreestraat in Amsterdam. It is now the Rembrandt House Museum, the historic building where Rembrandt lived and worked between 1639 and 1659. It was there that Rembrandt painted his masterpieces, trained pupils and lived with his family.
Museum De Lakenhal
Museum De Lakenhal is Leiden’s museum for art, applied art and the history of the city. Highlights of the collection include works by old masters such as Lucas van Leyden, Rembrandt van Rijn and Jan Steen, and works by modern artists like Theo van Doesburg, Jan Wolkers and Erwin Olaf. Museum De Lakenhal stages top-flight shows of national and international importance based on sources from Leiden. The museum is an innovative network museum and connects the past and present by inspiring visitors with old and new perspectives.
www.lakenhal.nl
The Rembrandt House Museum Amsterdam
Rembrandt lived and worked in this magnificent house, which is now a museum, between 1639 and 1658. On the basis of an inventory from that period, the house has been restored with seventeenth-century furniture, art and objects. There are etching and paint demonstrations in the Rembrandt House, showing how he worked. The Rembrandt House has an almost complete collection of Rembrandt’s etchings. Temporary exhibitions of work by Rembrandt and his predecessors and contemporaries are often staged in the modern museum wing.
www.rembrandthuis.nl
Leiden Marketing
Leiden Marketing is the organization that aims to put Leiden on the regional, national and international map as the City of Discoveries. It focuses on residents, visitors, and businesses with Culture & Knowledge at its heart.
www.leiden.nl
Centrummanagement Leiden
Centrummanagement Leiden keeps the heart of the city vibrant, attractive and economically successfully for residents, visitors and entrepreneurs. Centrummanagement Leiden hired the Rembrandt Lokaal in collaboration with Leiden City Council and Leiden Marketing. These three organizations are responsible for what happens in the Rembrandt Lokaal.
www.centrumvanleiden.nl
Cultuurfonds Leiden
Cultuurfonds Leiden is a unique investment fund set up to strengthen the culture sector. The fund invests in projects that promote cultural entrepreneurship and stimulates collaboration between the culture sector and other sectors, including the business community and the knowledge sector.
www.cultuurfondsleiden.nl
Initiators
Museum De Lakenhal, the Rembrandt House Museum, Leiden Marketing, Leiden Cultuurfonds
Petria Noble, David de Witt, Leonore van Sloten, Michael Huijser, Anita Soer, Minke Schat, Martijn Bulthuis, Martijn Bosch, Christiaan Vogelaar, Mincke Pijpers, Pieter de Dreu, Sanne Schuurman, Valentine Tollu, Charlotte Caspers, Fons van Laar, Ranti Tjan and reference works by Gary Schwartz, Ernst van de Wetering and Karin Groen.
Colour swatch Nw05 (porcelain) based on floor next to signature
Militia Company of District II under the Command of
Captain Frans Banninck Cocq, known as the ‘Night Watch’
c. 1639-1642
RembrandtLAB - Constructing Colours
Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters
Comissioned by RembrandtLAB
2016
RembrandtLAB is an innovative investigation into colour and the way it is used, with modern designers translating Rembrandt’s use of colour in the seventeenth century to the twenty-first. RembrandtLAB is an initiative of Museum De Lakenhal, the Rembrandt House Museum, Leiden Marketing and Cultuurfonds Leiden, which jointly commissioned designers Maarten Kolk and Guus Kusters to undertake the study. The results of their research—which began in November 2015—are being presented in a series of exhibitions. The first opened in March 2016 in the Rembrandt Lokaal in Leiden, then travelled to the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam in June. ‘Constructing Colours’ will be seen during Dutch Design Week in Kazerne, Eindhoven, where the research into textiles after the legacy of Rembrandt van Rijn will be shown for the first time.
Selected colour fragments
Rembrandt
Self-portrait
1628
Colour swatch Zp04 (porcelain, various glazes) based on the shoulder of Rembrandt
Rembrandt
Self-portrait
1628
Colour swatches Zp01 and Zp03 based on
Rembrandt
Self-portrait
1628
As part of RembrandtLAB 2016, designers Maarten Kolk and Guus Kusters (Studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters) spent a year meticulously researching and analysing Rembrandt’s raw materials, paint layering and recipes, and reconstructing them with alternative materials, techniques and supports. Working from some of Rembrandt’s paintings, they demonstrate how the use of colour and pigments, the raw materials, recipes and colour perception can be reproduced. At the same time they explore modern interpretations in other supports, materials and techniques. Past and present are linked. As Kolk and Kusters explain: ‘In today’s manufacturing industry the range of colour is extremely limited and two-dimensional. Rembrandt was a master of colour. The colours in the paintings were built up with immense care to produce the shades we see. Rembrandt knew precisely how to use raw materials to achieve the perfect colour. We can still learn a lot from this sophisticated preparation and his knowledge of materials. His approach was innovative then and still is now.’
Kolk and Kusters were the first in a series of artists to undertake research in the RembrandtLAB. The RembrandtLAB is an experimental place where creative artists get the chance to investigate Rembrandt’s use of materials.
Colour construction Jb04 (porcelain, various glazes) based on the sleeve of Rebecca
Rembrandt
‘Portrait of a couple as Isaac and Rebecca’ known as ’The Jewish Bride’
c. 1665 - c. 1669
Selected colour fragments
Rembrandt
‘Portrait of a couple as Isaac and Rebecca’ known as ’The Jewish Bride’
c. 1665 - c. 1669
Colour swatch Jb01 (porcelain, various glazes) based on the breast of Isaac
Rembrandt
‘Portrait of a couple as Isaac and Rebecca’ known as ’The Jewish Bride’
c. 1665 - c. 1669
Colour swatches Jb01-05 (porcelain, various glazes)
Rembrandt
‘Portrait of a couple as Isaac and Rebecca’ known as ’The Jewish Bride’
c. 1665 - c. 1669
Colour construction Al04 (porcelain, various glazes) based on the cloak of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp
Rembrandt
'The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp’
1632
Colour swatches Al02-06 (porcelain, various glazes)
Rembrandt
'The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp’
1632
Selected colour fragments
Rembrandt
Militia Company of District II under the Command of
Captain Frans Banninck Cocq, known as the ‘Night Watch’
c. 1639-1642
Colour swatch Nw02 (porcelain, various glazes) based on vermilion red sleeve
Militia Company of District II under the Command of
Captain Frans Banninck Cocq, known as the ‘Night Watch’
c. 1639-1642
Colour swatch Nw06 (porcelain, various glazes) based on the neck of Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch
Militia Company of District II under the Command of
Captain Frans Banninck Cocq, known as the ‘Night Watch’
c. 1639-1642
overview of exhibition RembrandtLAB - Constructing Colours in Rembrandt Lokaal in Leiden
overview of exhibition RembrandtLAB - Constructing Colours in Rembrandt Lokaal in Leiden
Studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters
Maarten Kolk (1980) and Guus Kusters (1979) have worked together since 2009. They both graduated cum laude at the Design Academy Eindhoven. They develop their own projects, design exhibitions and act as curators. The poetry they find in nature, history, colour and the landscape forms the basis of their work. They translate this into objects, material applications, exhibitions and innovative production methods.
www.mkgk.nl
RembrandtLAB in Leiden and Amsterdam
The RembrandtLAB was launched at a special historical location—the Rembrandt Lokaal at Langebrug in Leiden, where Rembrandt received his first painting lessons from Jacob van Swanenburgh in 1619. The exhibition opened in the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam on 3 June.
Last year Centrummanagement Leiden was given the chance to use the Rembrandt Lokaal. It was decided to hire this venue because of the unique opportunity to tell the story of Rembrandt in this place and so reinforce the connection between the painter and the city of Leiden. The RembrandtLAB was the first good opportunity to show Rembrandt’s works and working methods in the town where he grew up and learned to paint. The exhibition went on to a place that played a major role in Rembrandt’s life—his house and workshop in Jodenbreestraat in Amsterdam. It is now the Rembrandt House Museum, the historic building where Rembrandt lived and worked between 1639 and 1659. It was there that Rembrandt painted his masterpieces, trained pupils and lived with his family.
Museum De Lakenhal
Museum De Lakenhal is Leiden’s museum for art, applied art and the history of the city. Highlights of the collection include works by old masters such as Lucas van Leyden, Rembrandt van Rijn and Jan Steen, and works by modern artists like Theo van Doesburg, Jan Wolkers and Erwin Olaf. Museum De Lakenhal stages top-flight shows of national and international importance based on sources from Leiden. The museum is an innovative network museum and connects the past and present by inspiring visitors with old and new perspectives.
www.lakenhal.nl
The Rembrandt House Museum Amsterdam
Rembrandt lived and worked in this magnificent house, which is now a museum, between 1639 and 1658. On the basis of an inventory from that period, the house has been restored with seventeenth-century furniture, art and objects. There are etching and paint demonstrations in the Rembrandt House, showing how he worked. The Rembrandt House has an almost complete collection of Rembrandt’s etchings. Temporary exhibitions of work by Rembrandt and his predecessors and contemporaries are often staged in the modern museum wing.
www.rembrandthuis.nl
Leiden Marketing
Leiden Marketing is the organization that aims to put Leiden on the regional, national and international map as the City of Discoveries. It focuses on residents, visitors, and businesses with Culture & Knowledge at its heart.
www.leiden.nl
Centrummanagement Leiden
Centrummanagement Leiden keeps the heart of the city vibrant, attractive and economically successfully for residents, visitors and entrepreneurs. Centrummanagement Leiden hired the Rembrandt Lokaal in collaboration with Leiden City Council and Leiden Marketing. These three organizations are responsible for what happens in the Rembrandt Lokaal.
www.centrumvanleiden.nl
Cultuurfonds Leiden
Cultuurfonds Leiden is a unique investment fund set up to strengthen the culture sector. The fund invests in projects that promote cultural entrepreneurship and stimulates collaboration between the culture sector and other sectors, including the business community and the knowledge sector.
www.cultuurfondsleiden.nl
Initiators
Museum De Lakenhal, the Rembrandt House Museum, Leiden Marketing, Leiden Cultuurfonds
Petria Noble, David de Witt, Leonore van Sloten, Michael Huijser, Anita Soer, Minke Schat, Martijn Bulthuis, Martijn Bosch, Christiaan Vogelaar, Mincke Pijpers, Pieter de Dreu, Sanne Schuurman, Valentine Tollu, Charlotte Caspers, Fons van Laar, Ranti Tjan and reference works by Gary Schwartz, Ernst van de Wetering and Karin Groen.
Although Rembrandt is often admired for his striking brushwork, he mostly built up his paintings in layers according to traditional methods. This typically involved layering colour upon colour, and playing with translucent and opaque applications, to achieve deep and rich colour effects, as well as subtle variations.
The process began with a ground layer in a mid tone based on earth pigments. This first layer of paint forms the basis of the painting and plays a role in how colour is perceived in the final work. In some areas it is even left uncovered and forms part of the finished work.
In Constructing Colours, designers Maarten Kolk and Guus Kusters studied Rembrandt’s technique, guided by Rijksmuseum conservator and scholar Petria Noble. They then explored the possibilities of applying Rembrandt’s working methods to ceramics. This display charts the translation process. Rembrandt’s ground layers were translated into coloured porcelain forms. Over this surface, they applied colours evoking those used by Rembrandt, following his build-up of layers, using various colouring techniques.
Constructing Colours will be displayed in a series of shows for RembrandtLAB.
25/3/16 – 29/5/16 Het Rembrandt Lokaal, Langebrug 89, Leiden
3/6/16 – 25/9/16 Museum Rembrandthuis, Jodenbreestraat 4, Amsterdam
Petria Noble, David de Witt, Leonore van Sloten, Michael Huijser, Anita Soer, Minke Schat, Martijn Bulthuis, Martijn Bosch, Christiaan Vogelaar, Mincke Pijpers, Pieter de Dreu, Sanne Schuurman, Valentine Tollu, Charlotte Caspers, Fons van Laar, Ranti Tjan and reference works by Gary Schwartz, Ernst van de Wetering and Karin Groen.
Avifauna for t.e. has been extended with two new species, a duck and a Harris hawk. These new birds are exclusively sold by Thomas Eyck and available in a numbered edition.
Thomas Eyck commissioned Studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters to develop a collection in porcelain. They designed a series of tableware entitled “Withering Tableware”.
This eight-piece hand painted floral dining set is produced by the world-renowned Royal Tichelaar Makkum (est. 1572). Traditionally, paintwork on fine china is applied by hand, making it a labour intensive thus costly craft. Over the course of last year Studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters developed glazing recipes which do not require craftsmen to paint the crockery directly, but rather, the mold before the product is cast. In this way several copies of one painting can be made. After each cast the glaze washes away further and crumbles, drawing a clear parallel with withering flowers in nature. The image of the flower is clear and sharp after the first cast, withering and fading after multiple reproductions.
With this collection Studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters balance nature and culture, emphasizing the beauty of both worlds. The Service Set consists of two plates and bowls, a cup, carafe, platter and a vase in 6 or 9 different decorations.
for more information about Thomas Eyck: www.thomaseyck.nl.
for more information about Rosana Orlandi, refer to: www.rossanaorlandi.com.
The glaze research of “Withering Tableware” is supported by Sundaymorning@ekwc and Creative Industries Fund NL.
Withering Tableware
Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters
Commissioned by Thomas Eyck
Produced by Royal Tichelaar Makkum
2014
Production worker
Matthias Keller
Decoration painter
Watze Roorda
many thanks to
Creative Industries Fund NL
Sundaymorning@ekwc
Materiaalfonds voor Beeldende Kunst en Vormgeving
Alegria van der Zande
Sanne Vos
Fabricia Chang
Cloud Boxes (Small #1 and #2, Medium #1 and #2, Large)
Studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters
Commissioned by PROOFFlab
Winner Wallpaper* Design Award 2014
2013
Next week during the Salone del Mobile Studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters will present the Cloud Boxes, a series of storage boxes commissioned by PROOFFlab. The five boxes made of semi-transparent latex are inspired by clouds.
9th – 14 th April 2013 | Emporio building in Opificio Courtyard | Via Tortona 31, Milan
Link to PROOFF
“Thinking about acoustics we realized quickly that silence wasn’t our goal in this project. It isn’t that bad to have sound around you when you’re working. It starts to be disturbing when sound becomes noise. Taking away sound doesn’t create silence; it just changes your definition of noise. We imagined our perfect solution should be like mist; a low-hanging cloud that doesn’t make the world around you disappear, but takes the sharp edges off and makes everything a little softer.”
Concept Cloud Boxes
Concept Cloud Boxes
The Cloud Boxes are made of semi-transparent latex, damping sound like adding a curtain to a space. Next to their acoustic quality, they also damp visual noise. The small, medium and large units are made to store office clutter.
“Every office has things they need to have, but don’t want to see. It comes in every scale from the stapler to the vacuum cleaner. We thought it would be great if you could place all these kind of needs in an office cloud. Not hiding them, so you don’t know where to find it anymore, but damping them by turning them into blurred silhouettes of color.”
Cloud Box large
Cloud Box medium #1
Cloud Box medium #2
The Cloud Boxes do not contain any hinges or doors, but can be opened by stretching the latex. As soon as one releases the latex, the box will close itself again.
“We tried to leave the functionality of the boxes quite undefined. We made three different sizes according to the different scales of office clutter. All boxes can be opened from multiple sides, so people can play with the functionality of them. The large Cloud Box for example can be opened from four different sides. This gives one the opportunity to give each side a different function; one side could contain general office accessories, the next side binders of a specific employee, another side cleaning supplies and so on. The medium sized Cloud Box can be placed on a desk or in an existing cabinet fading your administration, calculator or desk lamp. And small version can contain small things like pens, phone charger or your personal stock of tea bags. The handle inside makes it easy to take with you if you don’t have your own desk.”
Cloud Box small #1
Cloud Box small #2
The results of PROOFlab will be presented together with the products of PROOFF collection. Next to the Cloud Boxes PROOFFlab will present a modular cabinet by Jij’s (architects de vylder, vinck, tailleu and Serge Vandenhove) and the movable working unit “Work At Home” by Studio Makkink & Bey.
9th – 14 th April 2013 | Emporio building in Opificio Courtyard | Via Tortona 31, Milan
Link to PROOFF
Link to PROOFFlab
Link to Jij's
Link to Studio Makkink & Bey
Cloud Box large
Cloud Box small #2
PROOFFlab
"PROOFFLab operates on the crossroads between design, society, economics and culture. It serves as a platform for the development of ideas and special products for a communal, flexible work landscape.”
PROOFFLab offers room for experimentation and discussion, while finding answers to the challenges in public spaces. PROOFFLab is about interdisciplinary work, observing and exploring the same objectives from different perspectives, from work to communication to mobility. By examining human movement in public and work areas we familiarize ourselves with the needs of businesses, administrations, corporations, jobholders, visitors and passers-by. Presenting answers with new designs and solutions that merge multifunctionality and aesthetic, we offer furniture and spatial objects that fit changing work conditions. Hereby efficiently redefining and refreshing the use of space.
In this way PROOFFLab is a platform for the development of the work landscape in which meeting, exchanging, experimenting and sharing knowledge is important.
PROOFFLab presents work in progress and two projects that central around the theme of acoustics. As directing office of PROOFFLab, Studio Makkink & Bey invited Belgian collective jij's (architects de vylder, vinck, tailleu and Serge Vandenhove) and Dutch Studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters to work in a tandem and design on the theme of 'acoustics'.
Studio Maarten Kolk and Guus Kusters (NL)
The work of Eindhoven based designers Maarten Kolk and Guus Kusters, balances nature with culture and emphasizes the beauty of both worlds. Their narrative connections, innovative use of materials and production process leads to a high level of aesthetic. While researching for the design task that PROOFFLab set out for them, Kolk and Kusters quickly realized that their focus should be on leveling out noisy contrasts. Foggy clouds provided answers and the colors. In fact, the boxes are rectangular cutouts of photos of clouds. This was the starting point for three sizes of 'Cloud Boxes' that help to hide, blur of fade out parts of the environment. A large box can veil sections of a space, putting a lamp inside Cloud Box medium changes it into a lampshade and the small sized box can hide clutter on the desk.
Cloud Box medium #1
Jij's (BE)
The Jij's collective from Ghent (Jij's is an acronym of initials of architects de vylder vinck taillieu, complemented by Serge Vandenhove) work on the scale of furniture rather than architecture. Characteristic of the architecture office architects de vylder vinck taillieu is that their interventions restructure what's already there, in such a way that it becomes narrative. They perform a balancing act between an idea, its construction, context and how space can be defined, or maybe even deformed. The Jij's designed a modular cabinet for PROOFFLab that refers to the cabinet 'Day and Night' by renowned Belgian furniture maker Pieter de Bruyne and is based on changing space and sound which can take on a variety of configurations. At the same time it's a prefabricated wall system that can serve as a divider of space and as a shelving system. In the end, costumers purchase a blue print, the architect's drawing hours the cabinet maker's hours and materials, which they can pick out from a catalogue.
Studio Makkink & Bey (NL)
Since 2002 Rianne Makkink & Jurgen Bey have been working together with their team of designers in the studio's headquarters in Rotterdam. When it comes to product development Studio Makkink & Bey take on a multi-disciplinary approach where every product is the result of a dialogue between a group of talented and creative people, working in an environment which promotes both experimentation and free thinking. The studio designed a movable work unit: 'Work At Home' for PROOFFLab, which can be appended to the rooftop of a house and removed when is no longer wanted. The prototype is a blue foam dormer that doubles as a desk with a shelf and even a small heater and chimney. While it can be delivered at your doorstep, construction and installing shouldn't be any harder than installing a dormer.
The text by PROOFFlab is written by Emeline Cosijnse
Four years ago, in October 2008, we decided to merge our two design studio’s and continue working together. In these years we worked on building a collection that we’re proud of.
This year we’ve decided to spend Dutch Design Week at home and set up a selection of our work in our own house. We would kindly like to invite you to visit this private show and join us at the kitchen table for coffee with homemade cookies or fresh pasta with a glass of wine.
