Walk the line, the exhibition designed by Luca Nichetto and Lera Moiseeva, illustrates how the Sucabaruca coffee set and Cheburashka table set were born. The two collections, which are produced by different companies in different parts of the world, geographically and culturally very far from each other, share the same craftsmanship characterizing the production processes of porcelain and of ceramics, respectively. The skills needed to produce these items become evident in the geometric patterns of the decoration, which are obtained by manually tracing a series of lines on each of the pieces. That is just where the title of the exhibition comes from.
The continues search of different traditions and international cultures has led Luca Nichetto, thanks to the Russian designer Lera Moiseeva, to collaborate with the company Dymov Ceramics, which since 2003, produces, in the Russian town of Suzdal, a particular type of pottery that uses an ancient technique of smoke fired ceramics.
The project that takes shape from this collaboration is called Cheburashka, a table set that enhances and reinterprets the ritual of meal sharing. The set consists of a larger, collective container, from which to take any food. The container has large handles that make carrying easy, and a lid that, if reversed, becomes a handy flat base for the large serving spoon. Two equal-sized bowls complement the set, which can be easily stored away by stacking the elements on each other. This makes the whole set similar to a “totem” with a strong decorative impact, enhanced by the hand-engraved lines on the surface of the ceramics that resemble those of a fishing net wrapping up the set and holding together its ready-to-be-shared content.
The name Cheburashka in fact defines, in ancient russian, the floats used by fishermen to support their fishing nets, but it is also the name of a little animal character, who grew very popular in children’s literature of the former Soviet Union, who, with its big ears, resembles the shape of the table set designed by Nichetto and Moiseeva.
The Sucabaruca coffee set is rich in cultural and formal references that come from the influences of several people involved in the project. The main cone-shaped body is reminiscent of “Carmencita”, the famous character created by Armando Testa in 1966 for the tv show “Carosello”. The patterns, hand-engraved by hand in the ceramic, are meant to emphasize the uniqueness of the pieces, as well as for the tray, manufactured using materials such as Canadian maple wood or marble, which always reveal new and unique patterns when carved. Just like in a game, the set elements can be stacked and combined as desired, indulging in the different personalities offered by 3 colour palettes, from total white, inspired by the fashion designer Martin Margiela, to pastel tones, characteristic of Japanese architectures, and eventually pop colours, a tribute to the eclectic artist Jean-Paul Goude.
It is a project that, from the start, has been involving people from different cultures and countries: Juli and John, founder of the shop/galley Mjölk in Toronto, who, with passion, collect and distribute in Canada products mainly from Scandinavia and Japan; the Canadian ceramist Alissa Coe, who made the prototypes, skillfully interpreting our project; and Lera Moiseeva, designer and artist of Russian origin, but New Yorker by adoption, who contributed to the development of the coffee set in collaboration with Nichetto’s studios in Sweden and Italy. All these people have enriched the project, making it an extraordinary melting pot of ideas and energy on an international scale.
Walk the line exhibition
Location: Spazio Rossana Orlandi via Matteo Bandello 14-16, Milan, Italy
Date: 8th-13th April 2014 Time: 9:00 – 20:00
