31-03-2019

Dutch Design Daily

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Jacqueline Harberink www.jharberink.com

[non] transparancy chandelier

By 31-03-2019

The titillating [non] transparancy chandelier is a ‘light’ protest against this time in which we talk about our pursuit of transparency, says the ceramist and artist Jacqueline Harberink. People must not be constantly online, but can be unreachable and can have secrets if they want; after all, everyone needs privacy and peace amids today’s information overload.

For example, the original porcelain chandelier symbolizes, literally and figuratively, the threat that is hanging over us when it comes to lack of privacy. The modular [non] transparent chandelier of about 1.20 by 50 centimeters consists of several floating porcelain layers that were hand-made according to the labor-intensive, forgotten’ Chinese ‘rice grain’ technique from the fourteenth century.

The ceramic maker made the thin porcelain ‘leaves’ transparent by making holes in it. She then closes them invisibly with transparent glaze on the inside to protect our vulnerable privacy. “Our privacy is just like porcelain: beautiful, special and powerful. But you have to deal with it in the right way, otherwise it is very vulnerable”, she says.

The special chandelier not only offers a strong social statement, it also makes us think and is at the same time a refined, aesthetic, and quirky beauty that we like to hang above our heads while we are being enlightened by this elegant chandelier.

Text by Viveka van de Vliet
Thanks to Connecting the Dots