From Mold to Fragment – Studio Kahn

Studio Kahn makes use of traditional techniques of ceramic casting, alongside innovative techniques such as 3D printing. The creation of ceramic products is considered to be the most ancient manual craft still practiced today. In different parts of the world, ceramics are produced today using techniques that have not changed significantly for thousands of years.

Throughout history, this mode of production served to create the most sublime forms of art, while catering to the human species’ most basic needs. The ceramic industry makes use of a wide variety of production technologies, ranging from manual design to the use of a potter’s wheel and to serial production techniques based on molds. Once the shape is modeled in clay, the ceramic object is fired in a special oven.

Unprocessed ceramic materials are usually classified into three different groups, based on their characteristics and on the temperature at which they melt:

Earthenware is the group of ceramic materials designed to be fired at a temperature ranging from 950°c to 1100°c. This is the simplest type of ceramic material, and exists in all ceramic-producing cultures. Even after it is fired, the clay remains porous. In most cases, this type of clay is coated

with an opaque glaze.

Stoneware is designed to be fired at a temperature ranging from 1100°c to 1260°c. Stoneware is sturdier than earthenware and is not porous.

Porcelain is considered to be the most noble of ceramic materials, and is thus the most expensive. Porcelain is designed to be fired at a temperature ranging from 1250°c to 1400°c, and is characterized by a white color, resilience and even transparency.

Lena Dubinsky, Head of the Design Course, Department of Ceramics and Glass Design, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design