Cut & Paste: Kiki Van Eijk for Secondome

By first making hundreds of sketches, 7 final objects have just “appeared” with diverse references such as wheel, cart, high clock, bird cage, niche, farm, bourgeois, primitive, complicated, rich, poor; they almost transform into 7 curiosities. Each curiosity becomes much more than just an object; it creates its own imaginary and personal world; very autonomous. Each object is an assembly of colours, forms and materials such as solid wood, brass, copper, ceramics, textiles, mirror, steel. It represents the joy and importance of “making things” by hand without computers and really “designing by making”.

The pieces show Kiki’s big love for materials, experimentation, tactility, research, sketches, context, settings, proportions, curiosities and every-day beauty.

It’s also a reflection of Kiki herself within the work she’s been making throughout the years and tells of the direction she will go from here.

Pictures, from above:
1. Clock (edition: 20)
A polished brass wire frame in a pendulum shape is holding a green ceramic “soft” circle, which functions as a clock. It’s a very open and transparent form which gives it a lot of air and lightness. It’s placed on a plateau which consists of a glass plate that balances on a white “soft” ceramic stand. The top is even finished with a “soft” cap.

2. Machine box (edition: 8)
A half circular white shiny shape with 2 little half circular mirrors covers the other half of the circle made of blue wool felt with Royal Blue hand stitching. This whole circle is being carried by an oak frame with gold rope. The circle can be used as a container or box to store goods. Merely with its references to heavy duty machines, it creates a remembrance of the joy and importance of being and working in the workshop.

3. Vertical Clock (edition: 8)
A big and a small hand are moving within a glass cloche in a vertical direction and tell you the time in a very fascinating way. Because they move in a vertical direction, instead of horizontal like usual, it somehow gets more difficult to read the time. Yet it makes one even more conscious of time, because it’s such a fascinating and almost mysterious experience. The hands move around in a grey ceramic “soft” holder which is covered by a glass cloche. This assembling is stacked on a green mini table which is piled upon it’s own grey pedestal with mirror. A fascinating installation about the experience of time.

4. Stack of furniture (edition: 5)
From the front side a wooden box with a door from which comes a beautiful textile with a Bordeaux-red surface with shiny white chalk drawn on it. From the back side a wooden niche with a shelf to hold a precious object and drawer with a hidden mirror! This box made of oak wood is leaning against the back of a simple violet chair attached by a golden rope. The chair is placed with one leg on a marble block and with the other three legs on a mirror, which is integrated in a roughly welded steel box. Its legs are made of brass and its “soft” drawers of black ceramic.
All objects are supporting each other; one can not exist without the other. The regular functions have been alienated; the chair’s function for example is no longer to hold a person who wants to sit on it, but it’s there to hold a wooden box; it has become the spill of a stack of furniture.

5. Totem (edition: 5)
A brass little home is holding a gold ceramic “soft” circle which functions as a clock. It’s the top of an accumulation of plateaus, cabinets and niches in which you find mirrors and storage space. Each part is coloured in a different shade and forms a gradient from off-white to chocolate brown.

6. Crate Shade (edition: 5)
Looking up from the base of a freestanding black ladder you’ll see a golden ceramic “soft” shade being reflected on all sides by mirrors which are integrated in a high gloss caramel-coloured crate. The shade is standing on a mint green hexagon-shaped box as a king on the throne! The two little doors which are just a little open show a glimpse of the gold-coloured textile electricity cable.

7. Cabinet Cart (edition: 3)
A box painted in a beautiful high gloss green colour with an off-white colour from the inside is carried by a light green base with brass wheels. When the door is open a subtle light pops out from underneath a sandblasted glass plate which holds the first sketch of this piece. This box can be used as storage, display or just as a light. The box is topped with a gold-plated “soft” ceramic jug.

14 – 19.4.2010
Kiki Van Eijk for Secondome Design Gallery
c/o EXITS, via Varese 14