The fragility of using Nerikomi technique on porcelain has motivated
me to create minimalist, ergonomic designs.
I deconstructed every product, be it teapot, teacup, milk jug, plate,
or bowl, looked at the function of every part of the pot carefully – the body,
the handle, the lid, the saucer – to try to understand what they really are
for. The aim is to be sure that every aspect of every design has a reason to
exist, and is not just made that way out of habit. The form of the pot
naturally follows the functional requirement.
I started with the saucer, which is normally round, symmetrical, and
easy to manufacture. To actually lift or carry a cup and saucer, we only need
to hold the saucer at one point – meaning that having only one area curved up to
invite us to hold it is sufficient. This is how the saucer with its upturned
corner came to life.
The same principle is applied in creating dessert bowls and plates in
the collection.
Next was the cup handle. Many commercial teacups and espresso cups are
chunky, disproportionally heavy for their small size. Holding the small looped
handle for such a heavy cup is not really comfortable. As her thin porcelain
cups are light and small, she developed a simple concave handle, like a
friendly out-stretched hand that tempts users to hold it, to feel it. The
concave shape fits snugly between the grip of thumb and index fingers.
This same design is used to make the teapot lid handle, a concave
shape that feels good to grip.
As for the teapot itself, larger looped handles can make it hard to
stop the pot tending to tilt to the front. So a smaller looped handle should be
more practical to hold the weight of a filled pot. But the drawback of a
smaller looped handle is that it is easy for the knuckles to touch the hot
teapot. The resulting design is an asymmetrical handle that is slightly flared
away from the pot along the right edge of the handle, providing plenty of space
between the knuckles and the pot.
The milk jug is shaped like a water drop, pointy at the pouring end and
rounded on the other side. It fits perfectly into the natural arch of the thumb
and fingers, provoking an instinctive interest to hold it.
No comments:
Post a Comment