Saar Scheerlings & UAU Studio
Duo exhibition during Dutch Design Week 2023
Saar Scheerlings
A series of watercolor collages, sculptures and a throne are among the latest props for a new, fictional culture designed by Saar scheerlings. Inspired by ethnographic collections in museums, textile crafts and construction methods, the work is a search for a sense of inspiration and meaning as we know it from ancient cultures and religious artifacts such as talismans. For this collection, Scheerlings mixes everyday forms and materials with traditional crafts, both from the Netherlands and other places around the world. For example, the shapes of the Talisman series are derived from unfolded tea boxes from the paper bin. The materials are mostly second-hand; the foam mattresses come from a bankrupt holiday park, the fabrics are remnants of theaters and fashion houses or old clothing from the thrift store, and an old sari was torn into strips to knot with.
In contrast to today’s fast and technological society, this work radically opts for accessibility through craftsmanship and everyday (also unexpected) material culture that can come from everywhere and therefore wants to be for everyone. The making process is unpredictable, because the making itself stands above a well-thought out step-by-step plan. Components can therefore always transform into a different form, a different material or scale, both autonomous or more functional. www.saarscheerlings.nl
UAU Studio
The Ancestors – A limited edition light collection, each embodying a unique “goddess” look-alike sculpture meant to be viewed from every single angle. The series was put together as a collaborative project with weaver Denise Berekmeri. This meticulously crafted light collection was made over the course of a two-year-old research, in which raw materials such as clay, metal, and wicker were considered to be the main drive of inspiration.
It was not only their durability and materiality that has been sought and put into question, but also their way of preserving in time without any additional coating that may help expand their lifetime. Materials that would somehow “age” with time were used in order to create a more natural approach to their raw form even after processing them in various ways. Using old techniques such as clay coiling, multiple cylinder-like shapes were placed on top of one another to create three stand-alone totemic sculptures. Light and rattan weaving play a focal point in these shapes, each reminding of a somehow mythical being of the past, a so-called Ancestor. www.instagram.com/__uaaau__