Mr Sedelmeier, what is it about the mandorla shape that particularly fascinates you?
RXS: On the one hand, it’s the pure aesthetics, both of the individual mandorlas and the all-over arrangement. It’s becoming a fashionable pattern with a floral look! On the other hand, the Mandorla is part of a design that is mostly used as a floor or mudguard on construction sites, for example. And I think it deserves more. Basically, I am enthusiastic about recharging and reinterpreting objects, materials and items by removing them from their actual purpose and thus freeing them from their pure functionality.
How did the leap from metal to porcelain go?
TW: I had been thinking for some time about products that could have a relief. And Reiner’s industrial derivation fits perfectly for this relief; a border would not work here. I immediately had a film running on my inner screen and it became clear: MANDORLA fits in with our collections and yet does not compete with the existing products.
RXS: In reality, this ‘stupid’ floor panel is somewhere on the floor of a construction site. But transferring this to porcelain without further ado doesn’t work, it needs an intermediate step, and in this case that is my furniture. For example, the lounger, where I actually only raised the material by 30 centimetres. When viewers look at the objects, they think: I know that from somewhere! And that’s when the penny drops.
Many people are also familiar with the term from a completely different context, traditional iconography.
RXS: Yes, mandorla is a technical term from art history and refers to a glory or aura surrounding an entire figure. This distinguishes it from the halo that only surrounds the head. Mandorls are interpreted as a visible expression of a figure’s power of light, salvation and protection. Which, funnily enough, leads back to the mudguard, which has the same function. Protection is a big issue, we want protection, but at the end of the day we rarely get it, and that’s exactly what the porcelain says.
So in the end, is this about a transformational achievement?
RXS: Exactly. To create a contrast between the protective sheet steel and the fragility of the porcelain. The only thing I can provide is the thought, the idea. Without the expertise of the manufactory, however, the realisation would be unthinkable. It is incredibly beautiful to see the development process and the effort that goes into an object. This expertise and the overwhelming history… It’s great that a company with such a history is implementing such a contemporary approach.
Why did you decide in favour of a cylindrical basic shape?
TW: Steel is traditionally rolled, so the starting position for me was clearly the cylinder, or in other words: the tube. As a 1:1 translation of the derivation in which a material becomes a product. The viewer can then associate the tear sheet in a self-experiential way. The fact that we chose biscuit porcelain as the material emphasises the sharpness and precision and the tactile experience of the unglazed surface.
Mandorla is being launched both as a permanent new collection from KPM Berlin and as a limited art edition. What makes the variants different?
RXS: It is the refinement that takes place here (and often in my other work) through surface application: metallic silver and gold, sometimes real gold, but also neon shades in pink, orange yellow…. Depending on the incidence of light, the colour tones change and the reflections form a radiant shell around the actual mandorla. Which in a certain way also creates a very special aura.
Which product from the collection do you like best?
RXS: My favourite product is the mug, because it also has a tactile feel. You take it in your hand and feel the structure – which you normally only walk on with shoes on.
TW: In my case it would be the vase. I think it is very coherent in the context. It is precisely the uncompromising derivation from a consistent, geometric industrial form that makes it a modern but timeless sculpture. It combines this arc of tension perfectly.
The transformation of industry, art and manufacturing explores the crossing of boundaries and the conceivable in an exciting way. A familiar “irritation” of viewing habits keeps an inner dialogue alive.
