Tine Broksø & Karen Kjældgård-Larsen

Claydies

Ceramicist

©Mads Hagedorn-Olsen

Serious about having fun

Tine and Karen subvert design and function to challenge design tradition
They seek the balance of the message, its delivery, and its form
They make bold ideas accessible through humour

Tine Broksø and Karen Kjældgård-Larsen founded Claydies in 2000 as a revolt against the prevailing uniform approach to ceramic design. Their mission is to turn heads, make people stop and reassess how they view daily life. Playing with words that would not ordinarily be associated with fine art design or craftsmanship, Tine and Karen use their distinctive humour to present provocative ideas about society. They see humour as a way in to people's awareness. "When objects make us laugh or smile, we are open to receiving what is underneath." The duo's ceramic art always delivers on a heartfelt and thoughtful impression.

Interview

©Mads Hagedorn-Olsen

©Mads Hagedorn-Olsen

How do you approach concept design and making?: They are equally important. The idea comes first: often just a word or a title. We love it when the design process and making the form come intuitively and express the idea clearly and unambiguously.
How do you balance being serious and funny at the same time?: For some reason, working seriously with humour is not considered ‘good taste’. A quick laugh has a compelling and redeeming quality, but the balance has to be right. Our objects have to leave room for thought as much as they entertain. We aim to have a serious message about the role of humour.
What is your view on pieces designed for mass production?: We have nothing against mass production as long as it is done responsibly. It has to be intended as such for it to work, and we know our handmade pieces are hard to produce this way. Today we do our own serial production of pieces that are not dictated by market demand.
Where do you place yourselves in the Danish design tradition?: We come from this tradition but do not use it directly in our work. We are more interested in everything that surrounds the functionality of an object than the function itself. In that sense, we take great liberties in our work. We seek to add new meanings to familiar everyday objects.

Tine Broksø & Karen Kjældgård-Larsen are expert artisans: they began their career in 2000