BIODESIGN – During the Golden Age, the
Dutch East India Company transported
millions of items of Chinese porcelain to the
Netherlands. Their picturesque appearance
and detailed craftsmanship played a key role in
the development of the signature style that is
associated with delftware. Today, an Eind-
hoven-based Chinese designer moving in the
opposite direction is changing the look and
composition of Delft-blue pottery – and this
time, it’s personal. Forget clay: Hongjie Yang’s
vases are made from human tissue.
Yang’s trio of vases – Semi-Human
Delft Blue – was recently showcased as
part of The Factory of Life, an exhibition at
the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The vessels,
stained blue with a protein dye, feature
human cells grown on biodegradable scaf-
folds used for cancer research.
The pieces are Yang’s straightforward
tribute to Dutch culture and, at the same
time, an unexpected exploration into the
future of luxury items. ‘This is a romantic
suggestion, where the complexity of the
forms and the colour itself realign our
associations with the objects, from initial
repulsion to valued opulence,’ he says. After
all, what is more sublime, customized and
inimitable than a direct connection between
the observer and the observed?
Beyond the project’s narcissistic outer
layer lies a nobler thought: a human-based
production system such as this one – also
employed by Central Saint Martins graduate
Tina Gorjanc, whose leather handbags contain
human DNA – could nudge us into slowing
down our rapid purchase-consume-discard
cycle. Leaving us with the question: is there an
advantage in loving oneself too much? – RM
hongjieyang.nlForget
clay: these
delftware
vases are
made from
HUMAN
TISSUE
Ro
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its22 OBJECTS