Heiko Balster designed a modern version of the traditional Delft blue cabinet set for Masterly The Hague 2019. The theme of this year is 'A Royal Festival' which immediately gave Heiko the idea to create a Delft blue cabinet set as a 'Royal Gift', but with a modern twist. "We were appointed a bizarre painting. A still life about the hunt, with dead pheasants and grapes. This made us think: food, where does it come from and what is it for really." Heike asked Merlijne to create illustrations for the cabinet set.
The result is a three piece cabinet set with the theme the circle of life. "The middle piece is a story without end, the characters on the vase keep chasing each other; to eat and be eaten. The left part of the set is full of floral motifs, like leafs, plants and little bugs that symbolize the time of growth, while the right part of the set represents decay and digestion. This part is needed to create new raw materials to make growth possible."
Illustrator Merlijne is used to work with the old printing techniques like block printing and screen printing. It proofs to be a real challange to express her ideas by using the Delft blue art of painting. "Every technique has its own expression and Delft blue is very far away from my own signature as an artist", says Merlijne. With the help from master painter Wilma Plaisier of Heinen Delft Blue, she manages to give her ideas shape and to paint the scenes onto the cabinet set.
The cabinet set is on display at Masterly The Hague from September 19th - 22nd. It will also be showcased at the Dutch Design Week in the last week of October 2019.
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