The vases in the present lot are a vibrant embodiment of Dutch designer Hella Jongerius’ ability to fuse industry and craft. As a product designer across many categories, she has repeatedly shown her ability to celebrate the benefits of standardised production methods juxtaposed with the depth, intricacy and subjectiveness of more traditional making techniques.
The body of each work is marked in graphite with a unique glaze code, resulting from the artist’s elaborate colour combination research. The process behind the production of these vases is described in the Misfit monograph that accompanies them as ‘an investigation into the perception of colours that optically merge’. It further explains that, ‘on the basis on 100 old mineral recipes and 100 industrial colour transfers, 300 polychrome colours were produced which are reminiscent of the colour intensities of old paintings.’
The works are from the third of three 'Coloured Vases' series which followed the first and second series from 2003 and 2007. Each series involved different experiments with colours in which one vase (the ‘Red White Vase’ from 1997) was used as the canvas. Alongside this edition of 300 vases, there is an additional edition of 300 vases from this series in the designer’s own collection.