Bartek Mejor draws inspiration from traditional handicrafts, modern technologies, and nature. Combining all these influences, he creates modern forms which are exceptionally tactile. His cut, wavy and irregular vessels constitute a new young voice in Polish ceramic design.
Mejor studied in England, at first, attending the Bath School of Art and Design. His ambition, however, caused him to “raise the bar higher” and become a student of the prestigious London Royal College of Arts, from which he graduated in 2011. [www.czasnawnetrze.pl]. In London, he also worked as an assistant at Daniel Reynolds Contemporary Ceramics for a year, which made him realize that his his career path – he wanted to work with ceramics.
Even though Mejor creates functional ceramics, it’s not the functionality of his objects that’s the most important to him. He considers form to be more important than function and creates objects that derive their strength from their artistic, nearly sculptural forms. Mejor himself explains:
I pay close attention chiefly to the forms of the designed objects, the function is an integral element of course, but not the most important one. I get the most satisfaction from projects which retain their unique, artistic form, but at the same time are things produced on a larger, industrial scale. That causes these projects to be more accessible than authorial projects exhibited in galleries, and to reach a large amount of people.
[http://magazyn.domideco.pl/]
He almost always uses white in his projects, but he sometimes experiments with black or red. This sparse palette serves to increase appreciation for the shapes he creates, turning them into the main characters of his stories.
He believes that his works balance on the line between the old and the new. Mejor explains that:
My work is a combination of handicraft and high-tech.
[www.ambiente.gliwice.pl]
In the process of designing, he both uses a computer and experiments with prototypes. The fusion of the designer’s hand and the capabilities of a computer result in a sculptural form. Mejor’s hand is guided by inspirations drawn from nature and its elements, textures and shapes. In the Cyclone lamp, the white lampshade of which is scored with twirling stripes, the designer plays with motion, creating an object that has a firm form and yet is ephemeral at the same time. He embellished the Vagueira vase with succulent waves resembling sand patterns on a Portuguese beach (which the vase was named after). In the Quartz and Quartz Black collections, he plays with the tradition of origami, transforming the creases of paper into embellishing patterns and giving the vessels a sharp, geometric appearance. The Prism vases have a similar style – their planes, which advance towards each other, are cut at sharp angles.
Apart from these geometric offerings, one can also find more organic shapes in Mejor’s portfolio The pointed Polyp and the streamlined Cora both use nature as a starting point. In Aquatic, Mejor manages to capture the feeling of wetness, whereas Surf, with its concentric edges, brings to mind waves and the vibrations of water. The designer is interested in temporary, transitional states and transformations, as exemplified by Melt: the black, streamlined lamps which seem to be melting.
Mejor collaborates with such major porcelain factories as Portugal’s Vista Allegre and Poland’s Ćmielów Design Studio, creating modern vessels that balance on the line between functional and artistic objects.
Author: Agata Morka, September 2014, translated by: Marek Kępa
Selected awards and exhibitions:
- 2014 - Meet My Project , Paris
- 2014 - Maison & Objet, Paris
- 2014 - Polish Job, Milan
- 2014 - DMY, Berlin
- 2013 - The exhibition Wishing Table, Prague
- 2013 - MustHave!, Łódź Design Festival, the Cyclone lamp
- 2012 - New Designers 'One Year On'
- 2008 - Talente Awards, Munich, Best Designer under 30 Years of Age
ćmielów design studio
ceramics
product design
