With “Introspectus,” the “ KPM Berlin ” and the “Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin” are once again joining forces to have an internationally successful avant-garde artist create a design on the pure white KPM canvas: Since October 2018, illustrator Eline van Dam, also known as Zeloot, has been reinterpreting the classic 1967 CADRE vase.
With the KPM+ format, the Berlin-based manufactory has created a kind of docking station for creative dialogue between time-honored craftsmanship and contemporary art. In collaboration with SZ-Magazin, this approach—a partnership between Zeloot and the “ KPM Berlin ”—was translated into four different versions of the CADRE vase under the title “Introspectus.” The vases in the limited-edition Artist Edition, available in sizes 0 through 3 Zeloots, depict classic characters engaged in a state of self-reflection and reflection on others.
With her illustrations of faces—distinctive in their form and color—Eline van Dam explores the idea that people can experience a wide variety of thoughts, emotions, and memories, all of which are reflected in their facial expressions, as the artist explained to SZ Magazine. The aesthetic of this collaborative edition arises from the fusion of two contrasts: the graphic use of form and color for which Eline van Dam’s designs are known, and the linear, minimalist form of the CADRE vase, which has been one of KPM’s absolute icons since its design by Trude Petri in 1967.
The vases of the limited Artist Edition in sizes CADRE 0 to 3 Zeloots show classic characters in a state of self-reflection and reflection on others. Eline van Dam's illustrations of faces, striking in form and color, follow the idea that people can experience a wide range of thoughts, emotions and memories that are reflected in their facial features.
“Thanks to the striking design of Zeloot’s sketches and the timeless aesthetic of our CADRE vase, we’ve created a special KPM+ Edition. “It was a lot of fun to once again collaborate with an internationally successful artist as part of our renewed partnership with SZ-Magazin and to demonstrate how a classic from our manufactory—whose design was created as early as 1967 and whose original form actually dates back to a 1930 sketch—is perfectly in tune with today’s design trends,” said Jenja Carow, Head of Marketing at KPM Berlin.
Photos © Eike Walkenhorst