Czech gifts, czech souvenirs > Porcelain vase Waterproof

Waterproof

by Maxim Velčovský for Qubus design  (2001)

For one of my vases, I chose the model of the Wellington boot. My goal was to retrieve this cheap, cult, maximally functional footwear from oblivion and immortalise it in the form of a porcelain object, a vase. In this model, I tried to invert Sullivans cliché form follows function into function follows form. I inverted its defining role as an object protecting against water into an object containing water. The shape of the Wellington boot has something folksy about it. Despite its rather short (thanks to modern technology) existence, it seems almost archaic. I was also interested in the psychological charge of design, the tension. The cheapness of rubber versus the costliness of porcelain. I am fascinated by trivial objects with practical and aesthetic qualities. Likewise by the fact that, at the beginning of the third millennium, one can de facto overturn the aesthetic scale by a mere change of material. By changing the material, a boot becomes a vase. One shape ends up in a different context and acquires a new function. When this object is multiplied, various compositions evoking diverse associations are possible.  www.qubus.cz