CGD

Daniel Piršč is an aristocrat among contemporary designers. He combines artistic ambition with perfectly mastered craftsmanship in a sensitive and unique way, constantly developing the noble character of porcelain, experimenting with its possibilities and pushing them further.

The limited collection of Barzoj vases, which Piršč presented last year at the Křehký festival in Mikulov and then at Designblok in Prague, is one of his most innovative achievements to date. The three vases, named Octopus, Amfo and Lion, enchant the viewer at first sight; they lure and provoke the perception of reality with a unique optical illusion. Is this actually possible? Is it a dream or reality? Where does the 2D world end and the 3D realm begin? Far from being poetic games with spatial dimensions, the author's "swirled vases" are the result of a carefully considered work with biscuit, in which the artist plays with its fragility on the border of surprising monumentality and physical laws.

The Barzoj collection combines the present and the past to perfection: the vases reference well-known ancient objects, but their remarkable morphology has an almost futuristic feel. Their velvety matt surface contrasts with their glazed interiors and their decorative quality with the timelessness of their forms.

In his Mikulov studio, Daniel Piršč has created real collector’s objects worth admiration. While their noble elegance is very attractive, the vases act as a distorted mirror, thus making the viewer slightly uncomfortable and taking them into a three-dimensional surrealist still life where they become part of the ambiguity and fragility of this world.

Tereza Bruthansová