A fruitful collaboration between Plumbline and sculptor Gidon Bing has resulted in an alluring new vessel — an artistic centrepiece that speaks beautifully of New Zealand’s diverse landscapes.
Plumbline’s Jonathon Hall describes the collaboration as a long-anticipated meeting of creativity. “I’d always admired Gidon’s work, including his past collaborative projects. My goal was to give him the parameters and let him craft a design unlike anything else in our collection. I think the result is incredibly striking and beautifully resolved.”
The design process was shaped by an interplay between tradition and innovation. “We aimed to find an optimal balance between reductive sculptural form and utility. We moved fluidly between traditional analogue methods and state-of-the-art digital modelling, making small discoveries along the way. The model-making process involved traditional plaster turning — essentially unchanged for over 2000 years — alongside contemporary 3D modelling and printing,” Gidon says.
The result is the Terra Basin, a strong, sculpted form made locally from vitreous stoneware and finished in one of four hand-applied glazes, each a tribute to the rich tones and textures of Aotearoa’s natural landscape.
Gidon’s design philosophy is deeply rooted in honesty of material and subtlety in execution. His studio, Raumform, operates at the intersection of architecture, interior environments, and product design, with an ethos grounded in deep craft, research-based enquiry, and a reverence for materials.
“Each space or object should be simple but immaculately crafted,” he says. “Forms should be free from superfluous ornamentation or structural exhibitionism, expressing an underlying practicality and modesty that is sensitive to place and purpose.”
This philosophy extends seamlessly into his ceramic practice. Designed and produced from a modest boat-shed atelier and basement studio, Gidon Bing ceramics are sought after worldwide, from New York and Tel Aviv to Paris and Copenhagen.
Gidon’s latest collection draws inspiration from the power and presence of reductive forms, a natural extension of his sculptural practice, where he explores the relationship between biological asymmetry and the artefact. The Terra Basin is no exception; this is a piece that is both utilitarian and poetic — a sculptural artefact grounded in tradition with a captivatingly contemporary aesthetic.
