Hammered Bowls, Piet Hein Eek's collaboration with Dutch product design company Studio Floris Wubben, is a collection of slubby bowls whose form is determined by the process of their making. The bowls capture the performative act of the maker's effort and as a result look a little deformed – but with a tactile appeal.
The designers used a specially designed machine and hammer to form the shape of each bowl.
A round piece of clay resembling a cake is placed inside a large drum and a shaft-like top is inserted. The maker then pounds the top with a giant hammer, causing the clay to spread into a bowl shape until it is pushed out at the bottom of the machine. "Each bowl is unique because everyone’s hammer-blow is different and the clay absorbs each strike in a different place," says Eek.
The oversized hammer and the physical effort required to lift it and pound the drum exaggerates the handmade aspect of the process. It's a dramatisation of the extrusion process often used in furniture and product manufacturing.
The ridges that form in the bowl are an imprint of the energy released on impact, so the object’s appearance is determined by the strength of its maker. Once the bowl has been shaped. it is fired in the oven. The collaboration took place with a live performance at the 2014 Dutch Design Week.