Erasmus, Peter Behrens School of Architecture and Design, Düsseldorf (DE), 2017.
BA, Industrial Design & Ceramics, ISIA Faenza (IT), Cum laude, 2014–2018.
Founder & designer, vuur collective, Amsterdam (NL), October 2024-ongoing.
Designer in residency, Creative Residency Arita (Japan), January–March 2024.
Lecturer, Natural Materials in Ceramics, The Material Way, January 2024–ongoing.
Fellow Researcher, LINA x TU Wien, October 2023–August 2024.
Tutor, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam (NL), September–June 2023.
Ceramic workshop specialist, KABK, The Hague (NL), January–August 2023.
Tech Fellow, Rijskakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam (NL), Jan-Dec 2022
RAW.obj, Pioneers in Ceramics, Prinsenhof Museum Delft (NL), February–June 2024.
Conversing with Matter, Princessehof Ceramic Museum (NL), Nov 2023–2024.
In Presence of Your Absence + RAW.obj, Open Studios, Rijkskademie (NL), 2024.
In Presence of Your Absence, Hong Kong Design Institute (CH), January–May 2024.
In Presence of Your Absence, ADI Design Museum, Milan (IT), 2023.
In Presence of Your Absence, Material District, Utrecht (NL), 2023.
Vestiges, Alcova, Milan Design Week, Fuorisalone, Milan (IT), 2023.
Raw.obj, Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten (NL), 2022.
SPAZIO 1/2, Drop City, Fuorisalone, Milano (IT), 2022.
Ciona Are Doing Well, SVA Bio Art Lab, New York, 2022.
Conversing with Matter, DAE75!, Fuorisalone, Milano (IT), 2022.
Conversing with Matter, Rethinking Plastic, Yksi Expo , Eindhoven (NL), 2022.
Conversing with Matter, Design Fest Gent, Design Museum (BE), 2022.
Conversing with Matter, From the Ground Up, Material Source Studio (UK), 2022.
Conversing with Matter, Design Open, Kazerne, Eindhoven (NL), 2021–2022.
Conversing with Matter, DDW2021, DAE Graduation Show, Eindhoven (NL).
Ciona Are Doing Well, Interspecies Futures, NY Center for Book Arts, 2020.
Grant, Starting Design Grant, Stimuleringsfonds, 2023-2024.
Award, Young New Talent, Material District, Utrecht (NL), 2023.
Grant, Creative Residency Arita, Japan, Stimuleringsfonds, 2022-2024.
Grant, Building Talent, Stimuleringsfonds, 2021.
Nominee, Gijs Bakker Design Award, Design Academy Eindhoven, 2021.
Font in use: Authentic Sans by Christina Janus and Desmond Wong.
©Benedetta Pompili 2024
vuur collective
Material Assemblies
Make no bones about
Raw.obj
Quenched Asbestos x Winnie Herbstein
In Presence of Your Absence
Conversing With Matter
In Bones We Dwell x Bruno Baietto
FU Review Berlin N11 Still
Sea Silt x Humade
FU Review Berlin N10 Restoration
BC/99
SILT Studio
Crú
Reclaiming the domestic and everyday spaces
Single fired porcelain wares, various sizes, 202
Developed during three months of residency in Arita, Japan, the tableware collection focuses on the Hama, one of the most ancient and appliedtechnologies in Arita. Consisting of a porcelain disc made to shrink under the porcelain ware, the hama prevents the warping and cracking of the porcelain during firing. By design, after one use, it is tossed away. The linearity of the life-cycle of the hama as well as the recent closure of the only hama maker, have become an issue for the community. While working side by side with the local craftspeople and applying the porcelain of the area,the project aimed at enhancing the circularity of the cycle and raising conversation around the topic. As the local knowledge focuses on the making of tableware, HAMA is a porcelain family designed within the sizes of the traditional hama, to reuse and prevent its waste.
On the one hand by reusing hamas already fired and thrown away by designing the sizes of a tableware collection to perfectly fit them after firing, so that the hamas can be reused as lids, coasters and holders.
On the other hand, the project included the remaking of the hamas and adding interventions that allow the shrinking plate to perform its function but adding future uses of it preventing its waste. By applying holes or indents, the hama after firing can become incense holders, drippers, hangers.
In Japan, porcelain is graded depending on its whitenesses. HAMA gives to each type equal space and presence by matching and mixing them in the collection. A playful and hidden aspect of the making process, common to each porcelain despite the grade, unifies the different shades: the light pink hue of the porcelain after bisque. Like the hama, the shade disappears after the last firing. The challenge stood in reproducing the bright and warm “bisque pink” despite the cool and dim tones given by the iconic reduction firing of Arita craftspeople. Started as a playful element, the reproduction of the bisque hue became a way to stop in time the actual composition of the most applied types of porcelains in the area.