ARTEFACTS: carafe

Artefacts is a project inspired by archetypes. The shape of the things we use, the things we are all so familiar with. 

For carafe, it's those shapes holding something very precious and vital: water. What appears on our mind’s eye when asked to think of: ‘vessel’, of ‘object to hold water’ or ‘container of liquid’?

 

Somewhere engraved in my brain are these images of iconic shapes. Of an ancient terracotta amphora with its round belly and tiny circular ears. Of a glass wine bottle; slim and straight with a high narrow spout. The nonchalant curves of a Delft blue ceramic pitcher. A plastic milk jug that is both square yet rounded, with a slight indent accentuating the area around the small angled handle. 

 

Placing the plastic jug in this lineup of archetypes is somehow reassuring to me. It becomes part of our shared past. There used to be such optimism when creating those endless amounts of plastic bottles, now we know better. I like to think that alike the terracotta amphora there will be a time when plastic bottles will be a thing of the past, a past we can get nostalgic about.

carafe is an ode to all those archetypes - and well of course; an object for holding water.