victor solomon uses kintsugi to illustrate an athlete’s journey on overcoming adversity

victor solomon has continued his ‘literally balling’ line of beautiful ceramic pieces that memorialize athletes through their journeys via a kintsugi basketball. designboom previously featured solomon’s stained-glass backboards, which link the luxury lifestyle lived by professional athletes with their playing field.

the moonshot vs.004 mimics a basketball, with white stripes amidst the design

in june 2018, solomon released the moonshot vs.004, which was the fourth installment of his moonshot series. the line had previously translated messages from class ascension, through a space shuttle’s atmosphere reentry to highlighting luxury.

this moonshot version was molded then destroyed and put back together with gold

using the ancient japanese practice of ceramic repair, kintsugi, which emphasizes damages, imperfections and breakage by infusing pieces together and re-joining them with gold dust and resin, the ‘vs.004’ is meant to illustrate the adversities overcome on an athlete’s journey by re-constructing and repairing a destroyed porcelain basketball mold.
the gold outlines where the breaks occurred on this model

made in collaboration with ceramicist brock deboer, there are 33 unique pieces, which come with acrylic stand.

the stripes can be clearly seen in this image, as well as the gold and details
the breaks illustrate the adversities that occur throughout an athlete’s career
the repair of the piece represents the overcoming of those conflicts