More often than not, it is well-placed (style) clashes and targeted disruptions that drive the dynamics of innovation. In this spirit, Villeroy & Boch, too, continues to explore and break new ground in terms of technology and design. After all, artistic talents and creative excursions run in the company’s DNA – and in the blood of the founding family with painters Anna and Eugène Boch, photographer Monika von Boch, designer Helene von Boch and now photographer Michel von Boch. Furthermore, the brand continues to foster exceptional artists and masters of their chosen profession including Gauguin or van Gogh, both of whom entertained a close friendship with Anna and Eugène Boch – van Gogh’s portrait of Eugène “The Poet” is currently on display at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.
The ceramic manufacturer’s latest collaboration, with typography artist Ebon Heath, throws a welcome spotlight on the merits of creative/craft combinations that might seem unusual at first look. And make all the more sense when given a second chance and glance.
In a seamless symbiosis of tradition, trend and contemporary currents, their joint project Second Glance helps to imbue art with tangible immediacy: with surprising moments and frictional aesthetics that breathe new life into the streamlined elegance of a gently curved ceramic object.
Steeped in 264 years of brand history, this close collaboration between artist and company encourages a focused exchange and cross-pollination of different and diverging approaches to allow something entirely new to spring from its contextual, technological and aesthetic intersections. As part of this dynamic process, the cosmopolitan artist’s intuitive creativity meets and clashes with the clear structures and predetermined manufacturing steps of a modern company that is usually confined to a strict production framework and narrowly defined schedules.
Inspired by Villeroy & Boch’s material and décor expertise, Ebon Heath went on to create several further Second Glance works, a. o. a poem-turned-mobile (Typographic Mobiles) blending Villeroy & Boch’s core competency ceramics with Heath’s pronounced penchant for typography. The resulting installation comprises 166 individual ceramic letters – fashioned into the seven lines and title of his Second Glance poem – and was assembled especially for the occasion. .
Further information on the project:
www.villeroy-boch.com/second-glance
