Design
Tuomas Markunpoika
The vases in this collection are limited-edition and come in three different shapes with a variety of color options.
Image courtesy of: Prodeez
Tuomas Markunpoika has an active imagination! Back in 2014, the Finnish artist came out with the “Amalgamated Collection”. The pieces he designed were created by individually gluing one facet of a pencil to another until the form resembled a vase. Taking advantage of the tessellating hexagonal shapes, he formed a solid block.
A lathe then fashioned the wood into the shape of a vase. Each vase featured a slightly different pattern because each one revealed the inner structure of the pencils differently. On the exterior, the vases were coated with lacquer and beeswax, and an epoxy resin was applied to the interior in order to make the vases water-resistant.
About his inspiration, Markunpoika said, “For as long as I can remember, I have had a jar or two full of wooden pencils on my studio desk – some new, some half-used, some graphite and some color. I realized how beautiful and interesting they are as objects. Using them only to illustrate my ideas seemed as if I was not using them to their full potential.”
Image courtesy of: Prodeez
Due to their known uniformity, the brand of pencils Markunpoika selected was Faber-Castell. The pencils were left untreated and for the most part, Markunpoika used the standard graphite variety. For those featuring blue, the blue color was chosen because of its elegant contrast with the natural color of the cedar wood.
From Studio Markunpoika
Some people might say that this collection wastes a large number of pencils. However, Markunpoika believes that if you create a unique, new object that has a longer lifespan; then, the use is justified. He is intent on creating an item that people will fall in love with. We think he succeeded!
A block of glued-together pencils on a lathe.
Image courtesy of: Contemporist
Designed in a typical Scandinavian wooden style, there are many adjectives that can be used to describe these vases: minimalist, innovative, creative, and simplistic to name a few. The collection is limited-edition and its name, “Amalgamated” meaning merged is 100% accurate!
A bench from Markunpoika’s “Contra Naturam Series.”
Image courtesy of: Elle Decor
Last year, Markunpoika unveiled his “Contra Naturam Series”. Purely by definition, this translates to “against nature”. So true! These imaginative pieces are constructed by combining layers of ancient Moroccan Tadelakt plaster on a ductile synthetic material. Through this labor-intensive process, the artist works and reworks the form until it is similar to the one found in his imagination. Using spatulas and palette knives, Markunpoika gently etches the fragile plaster onto the surface of the finished piece. The tactile nature of the top layer enhances the ambiguity of the shape. As Markunpoika says, the organic nature of the form is probably something reminiscent to an anthropocentric visualization.
