Report | Wisse Trooster
On Saturday, June 7, Willem Zwiers presented the results of his residency at Cor Unum in Den Bosch. It was a special journey in which he was the first Young Designer in Residence to work in the studio for five months.
The exhibition marked the end of this working period, but not the end of the collaboration. Cor Unum and Willem Zwiers will continue to develop the resulting designs together.
The residency gave Willem the opportunity to work on a larger scale and use techniques not previously within his reach. He used that space to experiment with form, function and material. Playfully and inquisitively, a series of new works emerged in which his own signature clearly emerges.
During his time at Cor Unum, Willem worked on a ceramic faucet, a large floor lamp, a large teapot, wall signs, a table lamp, a hanging lamp and several vases, among others. In some of these designs he left room for interpretation by others, where not every detail was predetermined. This idea is most clearly expressed in the watering can vase. In this, the handle and spout are produced separately, after which workshop employees decide where to place them on the vase. As Charlotte Landsheer, director of Cor Unum, mentioned in a documentary and during the opening: Willem gave the makers in the workshop a form of co-ownership within his designs.
The residency was made possible by the Friends of the Ceramic Craft Foundation, which set up a crowdfunding in late 2024 to financially support the course. More than a hundred donors contributed to the creation of the project.
Photography: Wisse Trooster
