Una seconda vita

Paolo Ulian, Una seconda vita

Paolo Ulian, Una seconda vita

Everything gets thrown away, even when only a minor repair is needed. Things are thrown away without asking if a certain object can still be useful, perhaps only partially; if an object, that has lost its original function, can become the source of new opportunities. It would be nice if this project led to these considerations. And so I imagined a centrepiece with a pattern of through holes that, in addition to acting as a decoration, would also make it possible to recover some parts of the object, if it broke. Within the centrepiece, the pattern creates a series of elliptically shapes that, if an accident should happen, could be recovered and detached from the context, becoming small, independent bowls. And so, accidental breakage is transformed from a negative event into one that generates new stimuli and new situations.

Paolo Ulian

Paolo Ulian, Una seconda vita. “Handmade in Albisola”, la Triennale, Milan Design Week 2007

Paolo Ulian, Una seconda vita. “Past/Future”, Carlton Hotel Baglioni , Milan Design Week 2013

Una seconda vita by Paolo Ulian was prototyped in Albisola (Italy) in 2006 during the 3rd Biennial of Ceramics in Contemporary Art and was presented at the travelling exhibitions “The New Italian Design” La Triennale, Milan, 2007; Italian Institut of Culture-Embassy of Italy in Spain, 2008; Santralistanbul Main Gallery, Istanbul, 2011; Beijing Industrial Design Center, Peking; Taiwan Craft Research and Developement Institute, Nantou (Taiwan), 2012; Alhondiga, Bilbao, 2013; Cannery Galleries, Academy of Art University, San Francisco, 2013.
Una seconda vita was also presented at the following exhibitions: “Handmade in Albisola”, La Triennale, Milan Design Week 2007; “Tavole meravigliose”, Fiera di Milano, Milan Design Week, 2008; “Paolo Ulian 1999-2009”, Docva, Milan Design Week 2009; “Paolo Ulian. Tra gioco e discarica”, Triennale Design Museum, Milan, 2010; “Il Senso delle cose”, F65, Marina di Carrara, 2010; “Italian Genius Now”, Santander Cultural, Porto Alegre (Brazil), 2012; “Past/Future”, Carlton Hotel Baglioni, Milan Design Week 2013.

Emersi

Paolo Ulian, Emersi  1, 2

Paolo Ulian, Emersi  3, 4

Paolo Ulian, Emersi  5, 6

Paolo Ulian, Emersi  7, 8

Paolo Ulian, Emersi  9, 10

Paolo Ulian, Emersi  11, 12

Paolo Ulian’s small but abundant range of very fancy-looking Emersi vases are most interesting for the way they have been made. In actual fact, these vases have been constructed by overlapping layers of pigmented earth, which the designer has handled using various different work tools, such as sandpaper, trimmer blades, metallic brushes, kitchen knives, iron saws, razor blades, polishing sponges, various types of stones, toothbrushes, cobbler’s tools, electric grindstones and brushes for shaping clay. The most interesting aesthetic effect are the (at times) violent scratches, scrapes, incisions, rips and abrasions on the ceramic surfaces, handled using tools generally associated with other trades and which here create unusual vase decorations based on a rather unexpected grappling with the layered earth.

Paolo Ulian, Emersi. “Cambiare il mondo con un vaso di fiori”, Pierluigi and Natalina Remotti Foundation-City of Camogli, 2010-2011

Paolo Ulian, Emersi. “Cambiar el mundo con un vaso de flores”, Italian Cultural Institute, Madrid, 2010

Paolo Ulian, Emersi. “Ospiti inaspettati”, Casa Museo Boschi Di Stefano, Milan Design Week 2010

Paolo Ulian, Emersi. “Paolo Ulian. Tra gioco e discarica”, Triennale Design Museum, Milan, 2010

Paolo Ulian, Emersi. “Paolo Ulian 1990-2009”, Docva, Milan Design Week 2009

The vases Emersi by Paolo Ulian were prototyped in Albisola (Italy) during the travelling exhibition “Changing the world with a vase of flowers”, MUDAC-Museum of Design and Contemporary Applied Arts, Lausanne, 2011; Pierluigi and Natalina Remotti Foundation-City of Camogli, 2010-2011; Italian Cultural Institute of Madrid-Italian Embassy in Spain, 2010.
The vases Emersi were also presented at the following exhibitions: “Paolo Ulian 1999-2009, Docva, Milan Design Week 2009; “Tra gioco e discarica”, Triennale Design Museum, Milan, 2010; “Ospiti inaspettati”, Bagatti Valsecchi Museum, Milan Design Week 2010 .

Vaso Rosae

Paolo Ulian, Vaso Rosae  1

Paolo Ulian, Vaso Rosae

Paolo Ulian, Vaso Rosae  2

Paolo Ulian, Vaso Rosae

Paolo Ulian’s Vasi Rosae wrap sheets of terracotta around themselves following a spiral pattern to divide the vase into various sections. The rough red terracotta is a miniaturisation of monumental minimalist sculptural tradition, leaving enough room on any table to hold a small and virtuous vase, which also embodies what the avant-gardes have to teach us.

Paolo Ulian, Vaso Rosae. “Di vaso in fiore”, Poldi Pezzoli Museum, Milan Design Week 2011

Paolo Ulian, Vaso Rosae. “Cambiare il mondo con un vaso di fiori”, Pierluigi and Natalina Remotti Foundation-City of Camogli, 2010-2011

Paolo Ulian, Vaso Rosae. “Paolo Ulian 1999-2009”, Docva, Milan Design Week 2009

The Vaso Rosae by Paolo Ulian was prototyped in Albisola (Italy) on occasion of the travelling exhibition “Changing the worl with a vase of flowers”, MUDAC-Museum of Design and Contemporary Applied Arts, Lausanne, 2011; Pierluigi and Natalina Remotti Foundation-City of Camogli, 2010-2011; Italian Cultural Institute of Madrid-Italian Embassy in Spain, 2010.
The Vaso Rosae was also presented at the following exhibitions: “Paolo Ulian 1999-2009, Docva, Milan Design Week 2009; “Paolo Ulian. Tra gioco e discarica”, Triennale Design Museum, Milan, 2010; “Il Senso delle cose”, F65, Marina di Carrara, 2010 .