Throbbing Stillness Chombo by Maru Meleniou

Throbbing Stillness Chombo by Maru Meleniou is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2022 Tuzo ya Shaba ya A' Design Award in Usanifu wa Sanaa Nzuri na Usakinishaji wa Sanaa Competition Category.

ShabaSanaa Nzuri· 2022

Throbbing Stillness Chombo

by Maru Meleniou

Client: Maru Meleniou Ceramic art &design lab

Tuzo ya Shaba ya A' Design Award Winner in Sanaa Nzuri Category

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Colors

The Design

About Throbbing Stillness Chombo

Utulivu wa Kubwaga ni sehemu ya mfululizo wa vyombo vinavyochunguza mawazo dhahania, dhana na maswali yanayowezekana. Kitendawili cha Utulivu wa Throbbing ni kwamba badala ya utendaji unaotarajiwa wa chombo cha maua, inamaanisha kuwepo kwa nafasi inayoweza kuwa na mawasiliano zaidi na mtazamaji. Kupitia umbo lake la kikaboni huweza kuvuka ugumu wa kati na inaonekana kutetemeka kwa nishati muhimu. Umbo na rangi yake huangazia dhana kama vile utupu, uwezo, upanuzi.

The Recognition

About the Tuzo ya Shaba ya A' Design Award

Throbbing Stillness Chombo ni mshindi wa Tuzo ya Shaba ya A' Design Award, utambuzi wenye heshima kubwa unaotolewa kwa miundo bora inayotofautishwa kwa ubunifu, ustadi na busara. Washindi wa Shaba ni kazi za ufundi mwingi na bunifu ya kushangaza zinazothibitisha uzoefu mpana, mawazo na ustadi wa wabunifu wao. Throbbing Stillness Chombo inatarajiwa kuwa kitu kinachothaminiwa sana, kupendwa na kuenziwa, ambacho ni cha kitaalamu na bunifu kwa kiasi kikubwa. Muundo huu ulioshinda Tuzo ya Shaba ya A' Design Award unajumuisha mbinu bora katika sanaa, sayansi, usanifu na teknolojia, na ni bora kwa umakini wake kwa undani. Throbbing Stillness Chombo hutosheleza mahitaji kwa uzuri, hugusa hamu, huvutia hisia na kuvutia udadisi.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Throbbing Stillness is not the vessel that flowers will be beautifully arranged in. Throbbing Stillness is a vessel that aims to contain abstract ideas, thoughts and images. A vessel that contemplates the concept of "vessility".
Dimensions & Packaging: Height 40cm
Tags: Sculptural vessel, Naked ceramics, Contemporary Ceramics, Handbuilt ceramics, Raw minimalism, Slow design
Production Technology: It is a hand-build ceramic vessel, with the coiling technique, an ancient technique that involves creating forms without a pottery wheel, using the hands, fingers, and simple tools. That way small details, differences imperfections and qualities mirror the honesty of the creative process. A slow almost meditative process that after years of practise creates a unique relationship between artist and medium.
I used stoneware clay and painted it with porcelain slip, glazed and fired at 1220C
Design Challenge: The most challenging part was to work on the piece as much as I would not manipulate clay to the point that it would lose its properties and its own life and substance. To create an object that carries the message powerfully. An object simple in form and yet not simplistic.
Research: I am interested in the materiality of my medium and I wish to highlight its raw nature and properties. After practising with a variety of colors and glazes I realised that all this would be a kind of cover up, making it hard for the medium to carry its message. So I decided to move forward with my material being almost naked.
Inspiration: My inspiration comes from the book White by Kenya Hara, Zen Buddhism and the human body.
In the field of ceramics, one creates forms to contain the emptiness. The purpose of a vessel is to hold nothingness within, a purpose greater than its function. White is delicate, fragile and from the moment of its birth it is destined to be “polluted”. My vessel is not trying to be a perfect white, rather it carries a layering, in an attempt to search for a way to feel whiteness.
A vessel, a human heart, a vital organ, or a musical instrument always inhaling/exhaling, pulsating in a space of closeness and familiarity yet distant and unknown. A space out of time, far from personal feelings and agendas that is dedicated to personal contemplation.
Project Duration: Throbbing Stillness was created in 2020 in Athens, and was exhibited in Milan Design Week 2021 at 1000Vases
Operation Flow: Human beings are designed to communicate.
We define ourselves through relationships and interactions with our environment, with others, with the objects that surrounds us.
Throbbing Stillness is a unique object that aims to offer a space for connection, an invitation to interact.
Image Credits: Image No1, No2, No3 No4 Nikos Koustenis
Image No5 Maru Meleniou