Hella Jongerius

Hella Jongerius combines traditional craft techniques with high-tech materials and manufacturing to produce objects that are strikingly new and provocative; her unique talent has created increasing 'buzz' in the design world. Since 2000, she has exhibited her own work at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, and the Museum of Art and Design in Helsinki, in addition to exhibitions with Droog Design in Frankfurt, Milan, and Jerusalem and several exhibitions in The Netherlands. Among Jongerius's designs are her 'B-Set' dinnerware (1998), which consists of simple porcelain that is fired at ultra-hot temperatures so that it warps and the finish crackles; while the dishes are a series, no two pieces are alike. As Louise Shouwenberg has commented, 'the result is not an anachronistically perfect dinner service; rather it is a wobbly pile of serially-produced one-offs: plates with a soul'. Jongerius's 'Soft Vases' (1994) and 'Pushed Soft Washtub' (1996) are cast in seamed polyurethane; and her new line of textiles for Maharan (2002) references classic old patterns and incorporates the dot patterns from the punchcards used to make the fabric. One of most talked-about designs to emerge from JongeriusLab is a high-tech modern folding chair based on an antique Ugandan wood chair. These designs and others at first glance can look familiar and simple, but behind the simplicity is Jongerius's careful consideration of an object's history, heritage, and archetypes. This monograph on Jongerius presents a visual 'catalogue' of her career in a cinematic graphic layout, consisting of photographs and interview text running continuously from the front cover through the book pages to the back cover. Two essays by Louise Schouwenberg are interspersed within the book, addressing themes relating to Jongerius's work. Photographs by Joke Robaard show the objects in context, in factories, shops, museums, and studios in various countries. The photography aims to show the social and historic dimensions of the objects and Jongerius's approach. Also included are photographs by Jongerius of her design process over the years.