The Peacock 酒窖 by Kyle MertensMeyer is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2022 A' Design Award 铂金奖 in 室内空间与展览设计 Competition Category.

铂金室内· 2022

The Peacock 酒窖

by Kyle MertensMeyer

Client: Godolphin

A' Design Award 铂金奖 Winner in 室内 Category

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Colors

The Design

About The Peacock 酒窖

“孔雀”是一座约十平方米的酒窖。窖内铺装了一千片蓝釉陶砖,每一片均由手工塑形与修饰。这些陶砖以三重曲线阵列排布,灵感源自孔雀的形态。每片陶砖可安放一瓶葡萄酒,并配有一盏小灯,照亮其下方的陶砖,因此除中央餐桌上方的一盏射灯外,再无其他光源。陶砖由中国景德镇的匠人制作,采用宋代羽毛纹理蓝釉工艺。制冷则由智能控制器进行管理。

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award 铂金奖

The Peacock 酒窖是 A' Design Award 铂金奖得主，这是授予真正卓越、优雅和宏伟设计的极具声望的认可。铂金奖得主是创造的奇迹，是智力创造力极限的见证，展现出其设计师无与伦比的专业精神和天才。这些设计被期待成为定义一个时代的美学、造福社会、并拓展艺术、科学、设计和技术边界的最负盛名的作品。The Peacock 酒窖展现出超凡脱俗的卓越水准，以其有益而宝贵的特质毫无疑问地让世界变得更美好。The Peacock 酒窖是一件赢得 A' Design Award 铂金奖的作品，它唤起欲望，启发人心，令人愉悦，并迸发出巨大的喜悦。

Behind the Design

Press Kit

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

Unique Properties: The Peacock Cellar's use of ancient craftsmanship combined with contemporary fabrication technologies creates a beautiful and intentional joining of past and present. The blue tone of the cellar comes from one thousand individually handcrafted blue glazed clay tiles, glistening like the peacock's feathers. The symbolism of the peacock showcases both elegance and strength. To create these tiles, the design team and client worked with artisans from the historic porcelain town of Jingdezhen, China, known for the most exquisite porcelain throughout the dynasties.
Dimensions & Packaging: Within the 10m2 cellar, the feathered tiles are splayed using a triple curved parametric array inspired by the majestic form of the peacock. The cellar tiles are designed with a dual purpose to hold each bottle and serve the cellar's light source. 3D printing was used to prototype the shape of tiles for stability. Additionally, at the base of each tile is a single small LED that lights the tile beneath the other; there is no additional lighting within the cellar other than a single spotlight directed downward above the central table resembling the peacock's head.
Tags: Terra-cotta, Wine Cellar, Blue, Glazing, Song Dynasty, Jingdezhen, Tile, Parametric, 3D-Printing
Production Technology: For over two years, the artisans worked to recreate the glazing for each tile one by one in small kilns. Incredibly, the technique required extreme heat to achieve the blue color tone, and as a result, only 1 in 10 pieces crafted survived in the end. For every tile seen in the cellar, nine others cracked in the extreme heat or were flawed. Due to the difficulty and time needed to create such craftsmanship, it's unlikely that such work would be attempted again or repeated by others, making this a one-of-a-kind piece of art for our time.
Design Challenge: The most challenging aspect of this project was to create the specific blue feathered glazing for the terra-cotta tiles. More than fifty artisans attempted, and only one prevailed. The process of creating each was long and intensive. Each tile was made as a hollow sculpture and glazed in blue twice. Extreme heat needed to create the blue color caused many of the tiles to crack in the process and required delicate expertise. Our team and the artisans realized through this process why this glazing typology had been a rarity throughout history.
Research: The primary research required for this project pertained to testing the shape of the blue terra-cotta tile and its ability to safely hold the wine bottles while still allowing ease of access. The team used a series of 3d printed prototypes and shake tests to evolve the shape of the tile. Additionally, the team used the 3D printed prototypes to build mockups to study the lighting integration methods for the wine cellar.
Inspiration: From 960-1127, during the Song Dynasty, artisans crafted a unique style of feather-textured blue porcelain glaze. Since then, this particular blue glazing technique has disappeared. Our team spent months searching for artisans who could bring back this feather-textured glazing technique as the key feature for this cellar.
Project Duration: The Project Began in January 2019 in Shanghai, China, and was completed in July 2021.
Operation Flow: The cellar operation is designed to be seamless and functions with ease. The primary cooling function is controlled by a smart controller with access via APP for the wine cellar's owner. Additionally, a custom aluminum ladder was designed to access wine bottles at elevated heights. The ladder is light and easily moved as it attaches to a floated steel ring around the top of the cellar.
Patents: N/A
Team Members: Kyle MertensMeyer
Ni Yangchao
Tang Linwei
Image Credits: Main image is Image #1: Wen Studio
Optional Image #1: Dirk Weiblen Photography
Optional Image #2: Dirk Weiblen Photography
Optional Image #3: Wen Studio
Optional Image #4: Wen Studio

Video Credit: Wen Studio