Raawii enlists ceramic artist Alev Siesbye for a multi-chromatic collection
The collection by Turkish artist Alev Siesbye for Danish brand Raawii includes cups, boxes and vases in multicoloured hues
![Pink ceramic dishes photographed on a white surface against a white background](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/7gL76PWEUG9atLWXQaVJWg-415-80.jpg)
‘Are you from the industry? I don’t work for industry anymore.’ Such was the response of octogenarian Paris-based ceramic artist Alev Siesbye to the founders of Danish design brand Raawii – Bo Raahauge and Nicholai Wiig Hansen – when they approached her about a collaboration.
The pair, who founded their brand in 2017, regarded Alev Siesbye as an icon. ‘We had this idea that we shared the same DNA in our approach to design,’ says Wiig Hansen. That turned out to be truer than they could imagine: when they finally met (after some persuasion from the duo) at Siesbye’s Paris atelier, she showed them photographs from her time in Skagen, northern Denmark, an artist hub in the 1960s. Several were taken at Wiig Hansen’s family home (his parents being Danish artist Svend Wiig Hansen and ceramist Leila Sallyman). Siesbye had been a ceramicist at the Royal Copenhagen factory, creating stoneware and porcelain pieces, while experimenting in her studio. She moved to Paris in the 1980s, and developed a signature style that mixes precision, simplicity and vibrant colour.
Vase (top), cups and 'Bon' box from the Alev collection
Within minutes of Raahauge and Wiig Hansen’s arrival, Siesbye started sketching. ‘They convinced me by their eagerness for quality, their enthusiasm and their energy,’ she says. And so began Raawii’s new collection. Titled Alev, it features cups, vases, bonbonnières and bowls in a palette of blue, green, pink and grey. ‘Colours are very important to me,’ says the artist. ‘It is often the shape that decides the colour, or the opposite.
When shown together, the collection has to be harmonious, like a musical phrase.’ She visited Raawii’s factory in Portugal and spent a week working closely with the almost all-female team to perfect shapes and colours. Working alongside makers, she notes, has always been a source of joy. Adds Raahauge: ‘It became almost symbiotic, everybody played a vital role, and Alev’s positive vibes and creativity were at the centre of it all.’
INFORMATION
The Alev collection by Raawii is available from the Wallpaper*STORE
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Rosa Bertoli was born in Udine, Italy, and now lives in London. Since 2014, she has been the Design Editor of Wallpaper*, where she oversees design content for the print and online editions, as well as special editorial projects. Through her role at Wallpaper*, she has written extensively about all areas of design. Rosa has been speaker and moderator for various design talks and conferences including London Craft Week, Maison & Objet, The Italian Cultural Institute (London), Clippings, Zaha Hadid Design, Kartell and Frieze Art Fair. Rosa has been on judging panels for the Chart Architecture Award, the Dutch Design Awards and the DesignGuild Marks. She has written for numerous English and Italian language publications, and worked as a content and communication consultant for fashion and design brands.
-
Take off: Mathieu Lehanneur's Olympic Cauldron rises into the Parisian night sky
The Paris 2024 Olympics’ opening ceremony was closed with a soaring cauldron spectacle that will go down in history
By Hugo Macdonald Published
-
Phaidon’s new Graphic Classics is a lavish greatest hits of graphic design
Graphic Classics is a compendium of seven centuries of visual culture, from the everyday and ephemeral to visionary works that reshaped our world
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Birley Chocolate hits the sweet ’n’ chic spot in London’s Chelsea
The new Birley Chocolate shop, a sibling to Birley Bakery, is a confection of colour as delicious as its finely crafted goods
By Melina Keays Published
-
Discover the brands redefining the marijuana experience
Contemporary brands have made efforts to redesign the experience of marijuana: these the names to look out for, from community-centered dispensaries to elegant objects
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated
-
Abask, a new curated shopping website, highlights handmade design
Abask presents a curated online design shopping experience, thanks to a team of antique enthusiasts, craftspeople and designers
By Martha Elliott Published
-
Hay Play reinterprets classic table games
Newly-launched Hay Play takes the Danish brand’s sleek design and colourful attitude to popular table games, from backgammon to chess and yatzy
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated
-
Reclaimed materials transformed into terrazzo by Ajoto and Olivia Aspinall
We take a look at how British writing instruments brand Ajoto uses the waste from its pen manufacturing process to create a minimal pen rest, in collaboration with artisan Olivia Aspinall
By Pei-Ru Keh Last updated
-
Alessi’s centenary collection celebrates design masters from Sottsass to Castiglioni
Throughout the year, Alessi has been launching new collections celebrating 100 years of design excellence and creativity, with special editions of iconic pieces by Ettore Sottsass, Achille Castiglioni, Philippe Starck and more. We speak to Alberto Alessi to discover his company's story of design
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
‘The Lockdown Dialogues’ explores design in the age of isolation
The series was born out of conversations between Zanat founder Orhan Niksic and international designers including Ilse Crawford and Jean-Marie Massaud
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated
-
GoodWaste explores design through material leftovers
Launching its collection as part of Selfridges' Bright New Things, the London-based collective proposes a new model for circular, super local design manufacturing
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated
-
Lauren Manoogian’s personal Peruvian ceramics collection
The New York-based fashion designer launches Object, a 12-piece edit of rustic, hand-built vases, pots and sculptural clay objets, crafted by a community of women in San Martin
By Grace Cook Last updated