human body parts emerge from ronit baranga's hybrid ceramic tableware

in a twisted version of the cups and teapots from beauty and the beast, sculptress ronit baranga creates ceramic works that merge pieces of tableware with human elements, such as mouths and fingers. first exhibited at designboom’s london design festival 2007 exhibition ‘handled with care’, which brought together 500+ pieces from 163 established and upcoming designers from 35 countries, the israeli-based artist’s figurative works have evolved, blurring the border between living and still life.

‘wild thing #15’, clay, glaze, acrylic paint
all images courtesy of ronit baranga

the hybrid sculptural pieces of ronit baranga aim at helping people rethink the way they observe useful tableware, transforming from passive, functional objects to active and responsive ones. incredibly detailed, the bizarre ceramic works combine traditional-looking cups, teapots and saucers with human body parts such as fingers, open mouths, and protruding tongues. baranga’s art is exhibited in museums and galleries around the world, while currently it is on display at melbourne’s beinart gallery (until 30 september).

’embraced #22′

’embraced #1′’embraced’

‘wild thing #7’

wild thing collection

piece from the embraced collection

the catalogue and invite of designboom’s ‘handled with care’ exhibition at london design festival 2007. the show presented a condensed look at the state of current international ceramic and porcelain craft on a scale never seen before