FOEKJE FLEUR Porcelain Bottle Vase • #13 Sky FOEKJE FLEUR

Bottle vases are inspired by a collection of plastic trash from the river Maas in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. After reading about plastic soup, Foekje Fleur started looking more carefully at the river running through her home town and found plastic waste that had been accumulating there since the 1960s. By creating durable porcelain copies of the material she finds, Foekje Fleur is spreading awareness of this growing problem.

 The Bottle Vase Project wants to spread awareness about plastic soup, also known as ‘the great pacific garbage patch’, it is characterised by exceptionally high concentrations of plastics that have been trapped there by the circulating currents. Plastic waste drifts there from all over the world, after floating down rivers into seas. Plastics are not biodegradable; they only break down into smaller pieces called microplastics. These are extremely dangerous as they enter the food chain and threaten all kinds of species, including human beings.

The outside of the stained porcelain is biscuit which gives a mat finish similar to plastic. The inside of the bottle is glazed to make it waterproof and suitable as a vase or container. The bottle is signed at the bottom. It is 250 mm tall.

This series is handmade in Portugal. The plastic bottles are used to create molds. Pigmented liquid porcelain is poured into the molds, leaving a thin layer that forms the shape. After drying, the inside of the bottle is glazed lead-free and fired at 1300C. All this handwork is done by a team of seven craftsmen, therefore none of the bottles are exactly the same. The picture shown is an indication, minor changes in color are possible. Overall the surface is smooth but small defaults do occur and should be considered as a quality of the product.