Made By someone in china

MADE IN CHINA is not generally a product qualification the people of the Netherlands can relate to. Even if the product is handmade, we conceive it as mass-produced and without its own identity. In a collaborative project of designers Klaas Kuiken & Dieter Volkers would like to make a connection between The Netherlands and China, showing the differences as well as the similarities between these countries. Individualism versus power of the masses, arrogance versus modesty. The MADE IN CHINA product as we know it does not have any identity, the process is not personal anymore. In MADE BY SOMEONE IN CHINA, Klaas Kuiken & Dieter Volkers want to restore a product’s identity by literally giving it a face: by allowing the ‘man on the street’ to influence the design process and to make room for his own interpretation, he can make his unique mark on the end result.

In the Beijing hutong of Dashilar Kuiken & Volkers asked a fishmonger around the corner, a butcher, a 79-year-old grandmother and a girl of 13 passing by to each make a small teapot from a ball of clay. For Kuiken and Volkers, the co-creation of a teapot is about personalizing what is usually an anonymous utensil, as well as about designing an archetype. They 3d scanned all the small sculptures by a company in Beijing and lay them over one another so that they merge into an average: a portrait of a neighbourhood in the form of a teapot. Location: 40 Tan Er Hu Tong Xi Cheng Qu, Beijing

Everyday a man walked by, he was convinced only craftsmen had the right to work with clay. On the last day he stopped by together with his brother. He worked on the teapot for a long time, but was still not satisfied. His brother, on the contrary, thought it was good enough.

Once hundred neighbours created their version of a teapot the clay sculptures where brought to mr. Xu Yuan who helped with making 3D scans of all the models.

The work of Klaas Kuiken and Dieter Volkers is characterized by their pleasure in experiment and research. They aim to add new function and new value to their collection of found treasures. Without losing any of the work’s recognisability, they have shaped unplanned objects in which the treasures have found a new way to manifest themselves.

Salon:

salon1amsterdam.blogspot.nl

Photography:

Jan Willem Kaldenbach

Graphic Design:

www.annelouvangriensven.nl

© 2018 Dieter Volkers

MADE IN CHINA is not generally a product qualification the people of the Netherlands can relate to. Even if the product is handmade, we conceive it as mass-produced and without its own identity. In a collaborative project of designers Klaas Kuiken & Dieter Volkers would like to make a connection between The Netherlands and China, showing the differences as well as the similarities between these countries. Individualism versus power of the masses, arrogance versus modesty. The MADE IN CHINA product as we know it does not have any identity, the process is not personal anymore. In MADE BY SOMEONE IN CHINA, Klaas Kuiken & Dieter Volkers want to restore a product’s identity by literally giving it a face: by allowing the ‘man on the street’ to influence the design process and to make room for his own interpretation, he can make his unique mark on the end result.

In the Beijing hutong of Dashilar Kuiken & Volkers asked a fishmonger around the corner, a butcher, a 79-year-old grandmother and a girl of 13 passing by to each make a small teapot from a ball of clay. For Kuiken and Volkers, the co-creation of a teapot is about personalizing what is usually an anonymous utensil, as well as about designing an archetype. They 3d scanned all the small sculptures by a company in Beijing and lay them over one another so that they merge into an average: a portrait of a neighbourhood in the form of a teapot. Location: 40 Tan Er Hu Tong Xi Cheng Qu, Beijing

Everyday a man walked by, he was convinced only craftsmen had the right to work with clay. On the last day he stopped by together with his brother. He worked on the teapot for a long time, but was still not satisfied. His brother, on the contrary, thought it was good enough.

Once hundred neighbours created their version of a teapot the clay sculptures where brought to mr. Xu Yuan who helped with making 3D scans of all the models.

The work of Klaas Kuiken and Dieter Volkers is characterized by their pleasure in experiment and research. They aim to add new function and new value to their collection of found treasures. Without losing any of the work’s recognisability, they have shaped unplanned objects in which the treasures have found a new way to manifest themselves.