Created through the first-time partnership between Bát Tràng Museum Atelier x dieuANH and the highly prestigious brand of CAO Fine Jewellery, AN NAM draws its inspiration from the values of traditions.
Constituents of the collection are four major cultural symbols of Vietnam, reimagined in Bát Tràng ceramics through a modern creative language. The familiar items which serve as the source of inspiration for this collection are namely the Mấn Đội Đầu (Vietnamese Turban), Áo Yếm (Vietnamese Halter Top), Đốt Tre (Bamboo Internode) and Hạt Lúa (Rice Grain).
Mấn Đội Đầu (Vietnamese Turban) – Created in the style of the renowned Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncuși, this ceramic turban is an attempt to honor the pristine beauty of the Vietnamese traditional headress, with each of the folds in the mấn’s simplistic form intricately sculpted to give an air of contemporaneity to the piece.
Áo Yếm (Vietnamese Halter Top) – Made from a combination of bronze and ceramic using a contemporary design language, this statue is created in the image of the áo yếm, a traditional garment that was an integral part to the image of the Vietnamese woman through many ages.
Bình gốm Hạt lúa (Rice Grain Vase) – Inspired by the sublime purity of the rice grain, a symbol of prosperity and abundance in many East Asian societies, no variants of the Rice Grain Vase are truly alike, as the layered glazes of these vases are each uniquely transformed by the kiln’s flame. Despite the dissimilarity, their forms all resemble that of a grain, delicately tilted but firmly grounded to a sturdy steel base to create a sense of elegance and prestige.
Cây Tre (The Bamboo) – Highly iconic in Oriental cultures, these đốt tre’s (bamboo internodes) can come either singularly or in sets of two or three, with each internode acting as a multifunctional module. When placed next to one another, the internodes can be used as gorgeous displays for jewellery, but when hung on the wall or simply stacked together, they then become fantastic pieces of interior ornaments, ideal to lightening up the living spaces.
At the current moment, AN NAM can be found on display in Bát Tràng Museum. With this collection, Bát Tràng Museum Atelier strives to uphold the workshop’s most core of creative values, ones that take deep roots in traditions, yet expressed through modern and contemporary languages.
