Photo: Anne Deppe
KNSTRKT
Modular ceramic building blocks inspired by functional systems, childhood toys and Memphis design. Fourteen stackable elements, handmade in Portugal.
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Building blocks & everyday systems
The idea for KNSTRKT began with Friederike’s fascination with systems: LEGO and Tetris, children’s building blocks, stackable tableware, bento boxes and the neatly organised meal trays on airplanes. Individual elements that fit together, each with its own place and purpose.
Alongside this interest in organising things was the pleasure of playing with building blocks as a child, stacking towers, constructing castles and trying out different combinations. With KNSTRKT, she wanted to bring the two together: a system for storing and serving things that leaves room to play.
Memphis design was another reference, with its colours, patterns and sometimes rather eccentric combinations of geometric shapes. KNSTRKT developed into a collection of 14 ceramic elements that can be stacked and arranged in different ways. Together, they form little towers, castles or architectural landscapes, with compartments for whatever needs a place.
Handmade in Portugal
The first KNSTRKT pieces were made by Friederike in her Berlin studio, where she initially produced the collection herself. As more design shops began stocking it, including the Vitra Design Museum Shop in Weil am Rhein, it became difficult to keep up with production.
Finding a workshop that could take over took time. Clay changes as it dries and is fired, and angular forms are particularly prone to distortion. A small change in shape can be enough to stop two pieces from stacking properly. With 14 different elements that needed to fit together, there was quite a lot to get right.
Production eventually moved to António Rosa, a ceramic manufacturer in Portugal. On her first visit, Friederike met the model maker and the people casting, finishing, glazing and packing the pieces. Seeing how closely they had reproduced her handmade originals was a particularly happy moment.
The factory is near the Atlantic coast, not far from Nazaré. Whenever she sees photographs of its enormous waves, she thinks of the people and the place where KNSTRKT is made.
From liquid clay to building block
KNSTRKT is made from slip-cast earthenware. Friederike chose the material partly because its relatively low firing temperature helps limit distortion, but also for the range of glaze colours it allows. Earthenware has a long history in Portuguese ceramics.
Each of the 14 elements has its own plaster mould. Liquid clay, known as slip, is poured into the mould, and the plaster gradually absorbs water from it. A layer of clay forms against the inside walls. The remaining liquid is poured out, leaving a hollow shape.
Once firm enough, the piece is removed from the mould. The seams are cleaned up and the edges finished by hand before it is dried, fired, glazed and fired again. There are many steps between pouring the clay and checking how the finished pieces fit together.
KNSTRKT at home
KNSTRKT began as an idea for the dining table: small vessels for snacks that could also be arranged into colourful constructions between meals. Once people started using the pieces, they found their way into bathrooms, onto desks and beside beds, holding jewellery, pencils and all sorts of small everyday things.
In Friederike’s own home, they are used from morning to evening. Some hold toothbrushes and make-up, one becomes a cup for morning coffee, and others keep pens together at the studio. For film nights, her partner sometimes arranges snacks in several elements on a tray. A slightly eccentric version of the airplane meals that were part of the original inspiration.
A tower holding make-up brushes today might become part of a table arrangement tomorrow. The pieces fit together, but there is no fixed arrangement. Seeing what other people do with them, including things she would never have thought of herself, has become one of Friederike’s favourite parts of the project.
KNSTRKT is available as individual pieces and in sets of 2 to 14 elements. The number in each set name tells you how many pieces it contains; an “L” indicates a set that includes large elements.
photo by Anne Deppe
