I make cups and other objects for a bizarre tea ceremony,' says Ikuko Iwamoto. The 38-year-old Japanese ceramicist, who has held exhibitions in Tokyo and London, fashions objects that she says 'suggest the everyday and the ordinary, but are in fact extraordinary'.
Her interest in the peculiar and strange has grown so extreme that only a masochist would consider taking a sip from her spiky beakers. But, thankfully, even Iwamoto's taste for the bizarre does not extend to self-harm and she giggles at the thought that anyone might even consider drinking from them.
Her designs do make statements, however, which is why they are loved. These include everything from vases splattered with crisscrossing spikes to tiny round containers that look as if they've just crawled out of the sea.
Iwamoto's experimentation may be new but she manages to capture the essence of the surrealism movement, which flourished during the early part of the last century, and still make it her own. By taking the ordinary and fashioning it into something that looks completely different, unworkable even, she is dabbling with the concept of pure surrealism.
Another designer who infuses his work with a strange, dreamlike quality is Netherlands-based Erwin Zwiers. His table and seat collection are almost Dali-esque in their fluid, slightly erotic shapes.
While Iwamoto experiments with sharp and tactile sensations, Zwiers takes the opposite tack, creating designs that are soft and cosy for the owner. He has even picked a filling for his seats that adapts to the body, making them more ergonomic. The look may be surreal but the focus is on comfort.
Danful Yang, head of Shanghai-based XYZ design, also works with furniture but his style couldn't be more different to Zwiers'. His bold black chair topped with a skull and crossbones image appears more nightmarish than dreamlike. This mix of styles and designs is not to everyone's taste but its arresting force can't be denied.
