Legends & Legacy
Cor Unum celebrates 70th anniversary with extensive plate collection
Ceramic studio Cor Unum is lavishly celebrating its 70th anniversary with an exhibition in the beating heart of Milan during the Salone del Mobile, from 18-23 April 2023. For this, Cor Unum asked no fewer than 77 young and renowned creatives to design a plate with the theme Legends & Legacy. Never before has Milan showcased work by so many designers, artists, architects and other makers in one exhibition. Atelier Fig. came up with an extraordinary exhibition design for the colourful ensemble of plates from Alessandro Mendini to Claudy Jongstra, Benno Premsela to Studio Rens, Sergio Herman to Maarten Baas and from Ted Noten to Laura van Santen.
Cor Unum’s curator Lotte Landsheer was looking for a way to celebrate seventy years of the ceramics studio’s history, taking the dinner plate as a starting point and asking everyone with whom it has collaborated to create a design which was applied to the plates with transfers. “All the makers have the same carrier, but the designs could hardly be more varied,” she says.
The serie illustrates Cor Unum’s legacy: the heirs of renowned designer Benno Premsela provided his seemingly simple but ingenious design featuring a square mirror in a circle. Lotte submitted a detailed manual sketch for a plate made by her father designer Zweitse Landsheer, founder of Cor Unum in 1953. There are creators in between such as Barbara Nanning and Marc Newson, Kiki & Joost and Studio Job, who are succeeded by yet another generation of talented creatives, such as shoe designer Zeynep Dag and architect Laura van Santen.
Tile wisdom
Some makers refer to the meaning of the words ‘Cor Unum’ in their designs. The rebellious Maarten Baas says – rarely without a wink – about his plate entitled Tile wisdom: “Tile wisdom and other one-liners try to capture life in a playful or catchy phrase. Of course, life is not like that. Hence my one one-liner: ‘Never believe one-liners’. Cor Unum literally means one heart. Living and working from the heart is what Cor Unum does better than anyone else. You don’t need a tile for that. So throw this one away.”
Industrial designer Arian Brekveld chose the same inspiration, but a completely different manifestation. His plate is called On Track and shows a soft pink hilly landscape with a trail of hearts. “This track from a network of paths, rolled in the wet clay of the plate, symbolises how everyone, with their own talent and task, contributes to the whole. If you look closely, you will see that the paths are made up of infinite individual hearts, heading in the same direction… Cor Unum, one heart.”
And architect Winy Maas (MVRDV) pictures a feasible future urban life: “Imagine cities turning into havens for nature; imagine your city becoming a fusion of vegetation and animal species, a place where you can breathe, eat and relax. Picture yourself in this city, walking through a savanna, or suddenly finding yourself in the rainforest. Welcome to The Green Dip.”
The presentation is in hands of Ruben Hoogvliet and Gijs Wouters of Atelier Fig. (who also designed a sign). They managed to design for the relatively long and narrow space in Alcova in such a way that all the plates are put in the spotlights. The design is also easy to set up and transport to the next location. Taking inspiration from both set tables and English toast racks, they created a museum-like setup on trestles on which the plates can be displayed in various ways: horizontally, as if it were a table arrangement, and vertically like an artist’s easel carrying a painting full of plates.
Vibrant community
Thus, the collection forms a timeline and a community of masters of the past, young talents and everyone in between, but Legends & Legacy also showcases Cor Unum’s rich craft skills, the opportunity the ceramics studio offers to young talents at art schools and every other creative to experiment together and create innovative products, new design traditions and long-term collaborations. The plate collection Legends & Legacy is both a look back and forward to the future where new collaborations will emerge and the plate collection will continue to grow. It proves that even at 70, Cor Unum is still alive and kicking.
For those not going to Milan or wanting to see the plate collection again: the exhibition Legends & Legacy opens at Cor Unum in Den Bosch on 25 May, where Jeroen Junte will talk to various makers. The plates in an unlimited edition will also be for sale online and in the Cor Unum shop. Afterwards, the exhibition will travel on to Dutch Design Week Eindhoven and Big Art, among others.
About Cor Unum
Ceramic studio Cor Unum in den Bosch, was founded in 1953 by Zweitse Landsheer and from 2009 continued by his daughter Charlotte Landsheer. Cor Unum produces ceramics designed by leading (inter)national designers, architects, artists and other creatives. These products are sold both in its own shop and in shops around the world. The company believes it is important to take a social and cultural responsibility for the heritage of ceramic crafts and to pass on its knowledge and expertise. This mission is supported by a team of professionals, students, people distanced from the labour market, designers and volunteers.
Text: Viveka van de Vliet
Photocgraphy: Dana Savic