Bertjan Pot

Design

Bertjan Pot is a designer, probably best known for his Masks and Random Light (1999). The light started as a material research, which is basically the starting point of each product created by Bertjan Pot. The outcome is usually an interior product showing a fascination for techniques, structures, patterns and colors. Most experiments start quite impulsively by a certain curiosity for how things would function or how something would look. From there Pot takes on challenges with manufacturers to explore possibilities and push the boundaries a bit. The reward for each challenge is a new one.

**Crafty Chandelier | 2024** - I still think that besides lighting up a space, one of the functions of a chandelier is to amaze. This one does not amaze with shiny expensive materials but maybe more with its brutality and its unexpected materials and constructions.

**Grass Mask | 2021** - After making masks out of synthetic rope and yarn for years, I thought it was time to give some more organic materials a go. Grass seemed an obvious material, because I could harvest it myself. I really enjoy a good, precisely made hand coiled basket, but when I have to make it myself I know I get very impatient if the process is too slow and repetitive. So I allowed myself to be very sloppy and fast which resulted in these characters. There are only a few of them yet, because I am restricted by the harvesting season (winter) and they also take a lot longer to make than their synthetic rope cousins.

**Ropemask | 2020** - After using the same material and technique over the last 10 years, the Ropemasks have evolved. This is the current state of affairs. Material: polypropylene rope, polyester yarn

**Hot Glue at Museum Boijmans van Beuningen | 2018** - Exhibitions dedicated to design are a tricky thing. Objects that earn their right of existence because of their function and place in the world are very often judged only on their sculptural qualities when exhibited. Or sometimes the written text accompanying an object is so much more important than the actual thing, you might even consider leaving the object out. When Museum Boijmans van Beuningen asked me to make an exhibition I honestly had my doubts. To only showcase products that already found their way into people’s homes didn’t seem appealing to me. I didn’t really feel like doing a retrospective, I’d rather look forward. I became excited when I realised that I could also use the museum to show other things. Design processes, making processes and half-finished ideas that have not quite found their place yet. This exhibition is a combination of those elements and each work involved can be seen in various ways; experiments in color and material, inspiration for new textiles or products or maybe some of these rough and ready made things are closer to a finished work than they appear at first sight. Hot Glue is an exhibition in 3 spaces of the Boijmans van Beuningen museum filled with the current state of my mask project, gloves, triaxial baskets, various textile experiments and a table with 57 light proposals. A lot of it is held together with hot glue, hence the title of the exhibition. Instead of saying: 'one day this will end up in a museum', these things appeared in a museum first, but hopefully will find their way into the real world later.

Deze kunstenaar heeft nog geen toekenningen.