Dec 17
Piet Stockmans
2007 at 07.09 pm posted by Veerle
It’s high time to add something to our Modern Home Design section again. There isn’t a large presence on the web where you can find out about Belgian designers. This isn’t because they are not there. I am amazed of what my little country has to offer design wise. You may have already noticed my set of outdoor furniture articles done by Belgian designers. Today however we focus on a totally different and more fragile sector namely ceramics.
Eighties
From what I've learned Belgian ceramics occupied a special place within the European ceramics scene because of its sculptural character during the beginning of the eighties. One man with a large contribution to all this is...
Piet Stockmans
Piet was born in 1940 in Leopoldsburg, Belgium. After his formal training at PHIKO, Hasselt in 1963 he learned the secrets of porcelain in Selb, Germany and in Limoges, France. Later he joined the Dutch porcelain factory Royal Mosa where he stayed till 1989. It is there that he designed the coffee cup 'Sonja' in 1967, which has been produced 30 millions times.
Sonja Coffee Cup
He started his own studio in 1989 which he runs together with his daughter now. The studio is specialized in handicraft products and most of his work is made in small series. Ceramics are not known for their wide range of possibilities which are imposed due to the onerous and lengthy technical process. One aspect is very recurring in his work and that is his use of only porcelain slip and blue cobalt. This earned him the name "Stockmans blue". Regarding his use of porcelain, Piet Stockmans says:
"My first battle lay in overcoming and discarding the traditional concept of porcelain. It was heavily laden with clichés. I sought to clarify the mysticism of the material.
Blue Bowls
Square dishes 4x4x4
Expression Pepper/Salt/Vinegar set + Expression 7 bowls
A La Carte
La Mer Coffee + La Mer Tea set
Modus Vivendi Bowls
Veni
See Piet Stockmans in action
Watch this movie to get a glimpse how his work comes to life.
Wind Lights
Recognition
Piet has won many awards such as Cultural Ambassador of Flanders (B) in 1995, the prestigious Henri van de Velde prize for outstanding career achievement by Design Vlaanderen in 1998 and First Prize category Design for tableware LA MER, European Ceramic Context, Bornholm (DK) in 2006. His work can be seen at the Design Museum in Ghent, the Amsterdam Stedelijk Museum and the New York Metropolitan Museum. More work can be found at the Piet Stockmans website.
10served
1
Wow, very nice stuff!!
Too bad I don’t have a “my place” yet to furnish it as I’d like :D
2
Beautiful, i can’t comprehend how long it must take them to make all of the above to the standard it is.
amazing.
Shame i don’t have my own place!
3
wow this is beautiful work! it’s stunning. the blue bowl is so unique and the shapes are gorgeous. this is the first post that i’ve ever read that makes me hungry!
4
Wow, the La Mer sets looks nice indeed. It is surprising how the simplest of forms usually look the best.
5
Off to bookmarks! Thanks!
6
I LOVE the expression bowls. Brilliant work and very inspirational to boot!
Cheers
7
Beautiful work. Blue bowls are my favorite. very effective use of line and color for your designs. Thank you so much for sharing these.
8
Its sad, but theres just something about square plates. They are so non conformist. I love it.
9
I really like the expression bowls, especially the oval shaped bowls with their thick walls. Thanks for this post!
10
Stunning , amazing , and very impressive works. Thanks for sharing.