Milan 2014: Dutch designer Aldo Bakker has created sculptural stainless steel tableware products for Danish metalware brand Georg Jensen.
Aldo Bakker's collection of four tableware products for Georg Jensen was exhibited at Spazio Rossana Orlandi in Milan during the city's design week earlier this month.
Bakker was influenced by products by late Danish designer Henning Koppel when creating the fluid forms of his set.
"To be honest, the company Georg Jensen has always been Henning Koppel to me in particular," said Bakker. "Especially his pourers are gorgeous. They are so elegant, you might even say sensual."
His sculptural Pitcher, reminiscent of an Ancient Egyptian headdress, has a stopper shaped like a pebble. This sits within a depression in the pitcher as if its weight has distorted the form.
"A pourer is a grateful subject," said Bakker. "I love to design shapes that contain something and I love the feeling of objects in which a lot of sensations meet."
The salt cellar, called i, is a small rounded object, with a hole for pouring the salt located on the underside of the head.
"To me, the seduction existed in the idea of a large round shape that leans on something," said Bakker, describing the salt cellar. "This causes the shape to sag a bit, but because it is opposed with a line the object maintains a stately expression, it is in balance."
A sugar caster for separating out fine grains of sugar comprises a domed top that sits on a base with sloping sides so the grains slide down to the bottom.
His first time working with stainless steel, Bakker found that the material was ideal for creating the desired forms.
"I had never worked with stainless steel before," Bakker said, "and I realised that its metal-like structure – hard, shiny and attractive at the same time – is beautifully appropriate for the containers and pourers that I love to work on."
In contrast to the shiny stainless steel objects, the Iron Pourer for oil is made from cast steel and has a matte finish. A long spout protrudes from the main stem and a long flat lid fits over both, closing the holes in the tops and connecting them simultaneously.
"When you place it on a table you have no idea what it is," Bakker said. "The can obtains its unapproachable character precisely because of its triangular form, which is even more intensified by the cast steel."