"Pyramids of Makkum"

Year:	2008
Designer:	Alexander van Slobbe Hella Jongerius Studio Job Studio Makkink & Bey
Project type:	art & design
Product:	the traditional replica and the four inspirations in a series of 7, average size is 400x400x1500 mm (height) Delftware: the product was formed from local clay and fired. A tin glaze, created in-house, was applied to the fired pots. The painted decoration was applied on top of the raw glaze and then the product was carefully fired a second time.

The company’s complex restoration of a seventeenth-century flower pyramid, one of the most prized pieces in the Rijksmuseum, prompted it to assign the 2008 project "Pyramids of Makkum" to four designers with whom the company felt it had a very close relationship. Hella Jongerius, Studio Makkink & Bey, Studio Job and Alexander van Slobbe were asked to come up with a contemporary response to the flower tower. They had to keep to the idea of an ‘ornamental vase’ and stay within the dimensions of the original flower tower. The designers were at liberty to include any aspect of the historical context or tower they so desired.

The assignment resulted from the desire not to limit the acquired expertise in restoration, but to deploy and exhibit it more broadly. The result is a very impressive display of five amazing pieces: the traditional replica and the four inspirations all made using the original faience technique. The Zuiderzee Museum in Enkhuizen bought the first series in advance, thereby contributing to the realisation of the project.
The series is made in a limited edition of seven pieces and is already regarded as part of 'tomorrow’s heritage'.