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REPLATED

Birgit Marie’s concept ‘Replated’ is based on her bachelor’s project from the Royal Danish Academy’s Programme of Crafts in Glass and Ceramics on Bornholm

At the 2023 Crafts and Design Fair on Frue Plads in
central Copenhagen, a series of plates by Birgit Marie Østerby caught my eye.

From HÅNDVÆRK bookazine no. 10 published march 2024

You can buy bookazine 10 here

Birgit Marie’s concept ‘Replated’ is based on her bachelor’s project from the Royal Danish Academy’s Programme of Crafts in Glass and Ceramics on Bornholm and involves embellishing existing plates by adding a new layer of glaze.

The plates varied widely in shape and glaze. Before Birgit Marie took them in hand, they were all white, generic plates; the type that, once they are discarded, is either sold for pennies in local thrift shops or used as road fill or as shards to provide drainage at the bottom of a flowerpot.

In 2021, you were in a late stage of pregnancy, and you went on maternity leave before your bachelor’s project. Back then, you were already interested in plates, am I right?

Birgit Marie replies, ‘The meal is something that brings us together, and there are many connotations associ-ated with the functional objects we use when we gather at the table. That is one of the aspects I am interested in.                       

In November 2021, I was working on a decoration project, examining traditional techniques, such as cow’s horn slipping and sgraffito.’

Could you tell me about some of the choices you made on the way to your bachelor’s project?

After a year’s maternity leave, I knew that, as a young mother, I had to have a clear focus.

I love working with glaze, so I chose to spend all my time on developing and perfecting skills in this area.

My project is about upcycling and repurposing – not that I want to claim that I am working with sustainable ceramics. The most sustainable ceramics are the ones that already exist.’

‘In addition to using existing plates for my glaze experiments, I looked at glaze ingredients and examined where the different components come from, where they are extracted and what their production entails. I looked at whether some of the ingredients might be replaced by surplus products from industry, including recycled glass – materials that otherwise hold no value. In this context too, my goal was to elevate waste products.

As a craftsperson, I want to make sure that the objects I put into the world are capable of storytelling or of opening the users’ eyes to a geographic area, a material or some other aspect.’

Could you tell me about the outcome? Does your concept hold the seed of a future business model?

We recently moved from Bornholm to Ry.

The next step for “Replated” is to turn the concept into a viable business.

I am looking into possible partners and what the production would require of my workshop.

This includes investigating what new materials (glaze ingredients) might be hiding in my new local environ- ment and expanding my colour palette with the possibilities they offer.

In the long term, I also hope to work on other objects besides plates; there is a lot of good porcelain out there that is no longer appreciated.’

#ceramics

På årets Kunsthåndværkermarked 2023 på Frue Plads i København faldt mit blik på en serie tallerkner af Birgit Marie Østerby.

Birgit Maries koncept “replated” tager udgangspunkt i hendes bachelorprojekt fra Det Kongelige Akademi på Bornholm og går ud på at forskønne tallerkner, som allerede findes, ved at give dem et nyt lag glasur.

Tallerknerne var vidt forskellige i form og glasur. Fællestrækket var, at de, inden Birgit Marie tog dem under behandling, var den slags hvide generiske tallerkner, som, efter de er kasseret, enten sælges for få kroner i den lokale genbrugsbutik, eller ender, som vejfyld eller dræn i bunden af en urtepotte.

Første gang, vi mødtes, var på Bornholm i november 2021
(i forbindelse med en artikel til bookazine 6).

Ceramic plate, BIRGIT MARIE ØSTERBY, textile napkin KARIN CARLANDER, cutlery GEORG JENSEN, glass IITTALA

En bestilling

 

Lad mig vide hvordan det foregår hvis jeg vil have syet, for eksempel et jakkesæt, hos dig?
”Først tager vi et indledende møde, det foregår her hvor vi sidder”.

Vi befinder os i lille lokale bag skrædderiet, møbleret med lave stole, sofabord, der er kaffe i guldkopperne og udsigt til prøverum med spejl og stakkevis af stofprøver.

”Ved det møde sporer jeg mig ind på dine ønsker og behov.
Der er naturligvis stor forskel på om det er første gang du besøger mit skrædderi, om det er første gang på et skrædderi overhovedet eller, om du gennem mange besøg er blevet ”uddannet” i at forstå din krop, din stil, og hvad du kan forvente af skrædderen.

På det første møde lægges snittet fast, jeg tager mål og vi vælger stof.
Dernæst konstruerer jeg et mønster fra grunden”.


Da jeg ankom, var Karina i gang med et sådant mønster. Når hun har konstrueret og klippet mønsteret ud, tegnes mønsterdelene op på metervaren med kridt, det er vigtigt at alle mønsterdele placeres således at terner og striber møder hinanden præcist i overskæringer og indsnit.
”Delene klippes ud, med rigeligt sømrum og sys sammen, de lange sømme sys på maskine, alt andet, cirka 80% håndsys.
På anden prøvedag justeres så balance og pasform er perfekt. Der markeres til lommeplacering.
Inden anden prøvning sys beklædningsgenstandene så godt som færdigt.
Ved anden prøvning justeres de sidste detaljer, herefter og gøres sættet helt færdigt inden vi træffes fjerde gang, hvor jeg afleverer opgaven”.

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