Ceramics & Glass Students Create Tableware Editions Inspired by Waddesdon Manor
Two first-year MA Ceramics & Glass students, Roberto Landin and Anne Lykke, have been announced as the winners of a competition run by the RCA and Waddesdon Manor – a historic manor near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire known for its impressive collection of applied arts objects. Roberto and Anne’s collections will go into production in Stoke-on-Trent and will be launched later in the year as unique tableware editions.
‘This kind of industry collaboration, focusing on working with real clients and manufacturers, is a great experience for our students,’ explained Felicity Aylieff, Acting Head of Programme for Ceramics & Glass. ‘It has offered them fresh perspectives alongside the opportunity to develop new skills supported by RCA staff and facilities. I look forward to seeing how Roberto and Anne’s collections develop as they go into production.’Â
Waddesdon Manor’s curators and the retail director briefed the Ceramics & Glass students to develop unique enamel printed surface designs in response to the collection at Waddesdon Manor, which includes Sèvres and Meissen Porcelain displayed alongside eighteenth-century French furniture. The brief was the latest in a series of collaborations with the RCA that have asked students to respond to the collection in imaginative and innovative ways
‘I really enjoyed responding to Waddesdon Manor,’ said Lykke. ‘The place emits an intriguing atmosphere of history and mysterious times of great craft, detail and ornamentation, which is something I have always been drawn to and inspired by. I chose to design the set around the aviary that lies in a little, almost secret part of the gardens. This place was for me the most magical and beautiful experience of our visit.’
Taking inspiration from Waddesdon Manor, the students created printed ceramic designs utilising the RCA’s cutting edge digital print studio, which was established through a recent three-year AHRC funded research project to be a catalyst for influencing ceramic surface design and production.
‘The project has introduced me to the process and skill of ceramic printmaking, which is something I always wanted to learn, and now I have the opportunity to do so,’ Lykke explained. ‘There were challenges in terms of translating my paper drawings into a digital format and maintaining the colours that I wanted. I’m now working on this in collaboration with the project tutor Dr Steve Brown to meet the next deadline in the manufacturing process.’
The resulting editions will be launched at Waddesdon Manor as products, to coincide with RCA alumni Michael Eden’s solo show of 3D digital printed objects, which opens 25 May 2018. Eden’s MPhil research project at the RCA combined his interest in digital technology with the craft skills that he had acquired as a potter. His exhibition at Waddesdon will use digital means to explore contemporary themes through the reinterpretation of historical objects from Waddesdon’s collections.
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