Accessoires | 2001–2003
Margareta Daepp has adopted the term accessory from the world of fashion for that of porcelain. With that the accessory assumes the role of an eye-catcher on a laid table.
The monotony of a complete service – from the tea cup to the egg cup – is broken by the presence of the accessory. A look here at the history of European porcelain manufacture shows a clear shift from the production of one-off pieces at the beginning of the 18th century to the service comprising many parts. The conquest of the technical obstacles in porcelain manufacture at first demanded that every piece of fired porcelain received the undivided care and attention of the artist-cum-artisan, from shaping to firing.
We can say with confidence that the uniformity of the present-day service marks the trend to mass production or, as one might also say, ready-made goods. The accessory presents a way out from this yoke of conformity imposed on cheap-priced porcelain services which, even if they make economic sense, are of mediocre quality, as well as from the collective sameness of historicized paradigms offered by the few remaining porcelain manufactures. Margareta Daepp’s clearly considered designs and use of high grade materials in her ceramic vessels provides the laid table with a contemporary counterpoint.
«The Coronation», a serving dish from Margareta Daepp’ programme decorated with simple fluting, presents a modern interpretation of the crown form and places itself in exactly the right light – as the pièce de résistance of a set table. Likewise the trefoil dish with its elegant grey glaze is conceived of as a single piece and underscores with its colour the delights of the food served on it. These pieces are produced in small signed series.
Susanne Schneemann
Further work
