[JAPANESE TEA CUP] 2016/ STUDIO WIEKI SOMERS TEAPOT (MASK) | IMARI-ARITA WARES

Designer

Arita ware with a beautiful spray gradation

Studied Wieki Somers

2016 collection Studio Wieki Somers produced by KORANSHA 2_Photography Kenta Hasegawa

Characteristic

Dutch design team Studio Wieki Somers have brought together the traditional industrial arts of Arita with innovative technology to create two modern tea sets.

These new ranges found their genesis in the design team wanting to use the azure colour that has come to represent Arita-ware, as well as utilising the ceramic spraying techniques that have been handed down for generations.

They actively sought to incorporate the patterns and colours historically unique to Arita while at the same time drawing on the latest available technology to give creative birth to a collection, the likes of which have not been seen in the world of industrial arts.

Profile

Wieki Somers and Dylan van den Berg studied at Design Academy Eindhoven in the late ’90s.

In 2003, they established Studio Wieki Somers, which is focussed on providing an enlightened reading of the everyday environment.

The studio’s oeuvre distinguishes itself by a sensitivity for materials, technological inginuity, and fantasy.

The designers work for a great variety of international manufacturers, museums and galleries, and have established an intensive relationship with Galerie Kreo in Paris.

They have received numerous awards and their works are part of major museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Museum in London.