What do you do when someone in your house accidentally breaks a delicate ceramic plate or bowl? You probably mope a little at the loss of the precious ceramic cutlery and then throw the broken shards in the dustbin. What else can we do, right? But artist Bouke De Vries uses these damaged ceramics and creates wonderful art out of them.
Born in the Netherlands and living in London at present, Bouke has made a name for himself by creating delicate modern art out of discarded and shattered ceramics. In fact, he’s now being touted as ‘The Porcelain Phoenix”. The goal of the artist is to ensure that all broken ceramics be able to continue living even after they have suffered a fatal “accident”. This is why he attempts to breathe new life in them with his precious skills. According to Bouke, any broken object can be into a work of art in its own right.
The Dutch artist studied at the Central St. Martin’s in London and worked in high fashion before moving towards ceramics conservation and restoration in the early 1990s. He learned this art at West Dean College and has been using his skills ever since by giving a second life to various ceramic objects like plates, vases, cups, or even teapots. Sometimes he uses broken blue willow plates into a map of China and sometimes he uses small shards of porcelain to make the thorns on a blossoming rose. The highlight of Bouke’s art is that he reforms ordinary things into something beautiful that revels in the charms of their previous forms.
The artist has worked with porcelain as a restorer for 15 years and has now begun his own practice. Interestingly, while Bouke searches for broken pottery and glass shards to begin his work, he never breaks an undamaged piece; his only aim is to reinvigorate damaged ceramics.
Let’s now take a look at some of the most beautiful works of Bouke De Vries.
See Also: 27 Ways to Re-Use Broken Household Items
