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kolk & kusters

Maarten Kolk (1980) en Guus Kusters (1979) both graduated with honor at the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2006 and work together since 2009. They develop autonomous projects and work as exhibition designers and curators. The poetry they find in nature, history, color and landscape are the foundation of their work. They try to translate this into objects, material applications, exhibitions and innovative production methods. Studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters exhibited their work among others at Sotheby’s London, Zuiderzeemuseum Enkhuizen, Textielmuseum Tilburg, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen Rotterdam and Design Museum Holon and is acquired by several museums and private collectors.

withering tableware

Thomas Eyck commissioned Studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters to develop a collection in porcelain. They designed a series of tableware entitled “Withering Tableware”. This eight-piece hand painted floral dining set is produced by the renown Royal Tichelaar Makkum (est. 1572). Traditionally, paintwork on fine china is applied by hand, making it a labour intensive thus costly craft. Over the course of last year Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters developed glazing recipes which do not require craftsmen to paint the crockery directly, but rather, the mold before the product is cast. In this way several copies of one painting can be made. After each cast the glaze further washes away and crumbles, drawing a clear parallel with withering flowers in nature. The image of the flower is clear and sharp after the first cast, withering and fading after multiple reproductions. With this collection Studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters balance nature and production culture, emphasizing the beauty of both worlds. The service set consist of two plates and bowls, a cup, carafe, platter and a vase in 6 or 9 different decorations.

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t.e. 205broken hare

Lifelessness is a recurring theme in the work of Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters. The lethargy in the lifeless object carries a poetic tension that fascinates them.

‘Broken Hare’ is the lifeless remains of a shot hare.

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t.e. 162waddensea herbaria, large

In early 2012, Kolk & Kusters began to study the landscape of the Wadden Sea and translate their findings into a series of works. The ‘Waddenzee Herbaria’ is one of these works, and it represents pieces of seaweed drifting in the water as if frozen in time.

“We found the stranded pieces of seaweed very poetic. They’re remains of life from a mysterious world below the water’s surface. We’d find the weeds drifting in the surf, partly revealed, as the muddy water blurs the full sight, creating a mysterious and romantic image. The original pieces consisted of only seaweed, but we wanted to add a wider variety of life traces in the 2020 version. Walking the coastline, you’ll find feathers of the many birds of migration, as well as fishing lines, nets, recreational waste, and many more remains of the human presence at sea. Still today, a lot of waste from the 2019 container spill of MSC ZOE remains in the water, as well as many shipwrecks. We found that adding different types of traces to the work made it more honest as well as more romantic. The Wadden Sea is not just a place of beauty and mystery, it’s a place of life and death, origin and waste. A landscape that is raw, rough, and sincere, ironically situated in one of the most cultivated areas in the world.”

t.e. 162read more

t.e. 161waddensea herbaria, medium

In early 2012, Kolk & Kusters began to study the landscape of the Wadden Sea and translate their findings into a series of works. The ‘Waddenzee Herbaria’ is one of these works, and it represents pieces of seaweed drifting in the water as if frozen in time.

“We found the stranded pieces of seaweed very poetic. They’re remains of life from a mysterious world below the water’s surface. We’d find the weeds drifting in the surf, partly revealed, as the muddy water blurs the full sight, creating a mysterious and romantic image. The original pieces consisted of only seaweed, but we wanted to add a wider variety of life traces in the 2020 version. Walking the coastline, you’ll find feathers of the many birds of migration, as well as fishing lines, nets, recreational waste, and many more remains of the human presence at sea. Still today, a lot of waste from the 2019 container spill of MSC ZOE remains in the water, as well as many shipwrecks. We found that adding different types of traces to the work made it more honest as well as more romantic. The Wadden Sea is not just a place of beauty and mystery, it’s a place of life and death, origin and waste. A landscape that is raw, rough, and sincere, ironically situated in one of the most cultivated areas in the world.”

t.e. 161read more

t.e. 160herbarium, large

The herbariums from Studio Maarten Kolk and Guus Kusters originate from their own vegetable garden. "Firstly the vegetable garden was a study object, but increasingly we saw vegetables as a material. As such we wanted to treasure the garden we had worked in for a year, and represent it on a 1:1 scale. Furthermore we wanted to say something about it from a design point of view. By pressing and drying the plants and as such conserving them, you can – so to say – lengthen the growing process of the plant.

The herbariums consist of many layers of fabric with plants on top. Pressed between a sheet of glass using wooden clamp a graphic image emerges, which leans against the wall. Together the herbarium pieces form a greyed and abstract translation of the vegetable garden.”

t.e. 160read more

t.e. 159herbarium, medium

The herbariums from Studio Maarten Kolk and Guus Kusters originate from their own vegetable garden. "Firstly the vegetable garden was a study object, but increasingly we saw vegetables as a material. As such we wanted to treasure the garden we had worked in for a year, and represent it on a 1:1 scale. Furthermore we wanted to say something about it from a design point of view. By pressing and drying the plants and as such conserving them, you can – so to say – lengthen the growing process of the plant.

The herbariums consist of many layers of fabric with plants on top. Pressed between a sheet of glass using wooden clamp a graphic image emerges, which leans against the wall. Together the herbarium pieces form a greyed and abstract translation of the vegetable garden.”

t.e. 159read more

t.e. 158silent fish

Silent Fish is a continuous study that started at the Waddensea. At a low tide, when the sea retrieves itself, washed ashore animals and plants appear on the muddy surface of the Waddensea coast. The fish that were once active and alive, have become static objects. “We find the limpness of the fish very poetic. It has a similar kind of gracefulness as a ballet but without making even one movement. This is what we’re trying to capture. For us it’s not a dead animal that we see, but it’s an object carrying a lot of emotion and poetry. And that’s just what makes it interesting for us as designers; capturing emotion and poetry and turning it into an object”
Patterns of a grey mullet and cod are made and reproduced in light weighted newspaper to remain nothing but shape. The fragile objects are presented in dark grey acrylic box.

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t.e. 155withering tableware

vase

sequence of 6 different decorations:

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t.e. 154withering tableware

platter

sequence of 6 different decorations:

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t.e. 153withering tableware

carafe

sequence of 9 different decorations:

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t.e. 152withering tableware

bowl, high

sequence of 9 different decorations:

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t.e. 150withering tableware

plate large

sequence of 6 different decorations:

t.e. 150read more