MegaBowl Thalen & Thalen
contemporary silver objects
M e g a B o w l
p r o j e c t
Ever since the beginning of mankind silver gave us this special attraction . A precious metal for objects in daily use, and at the same time for jewellery and not to forget as an element of value. Exactly this last aspect is at the same time the biggest enemy of this precious metal. Through the centuries wonderful objects were made in silver. Famous artists made their creations, but also many times in periods of crisis the intrinsic value of silver became more important than the artistic value and many an interesting object found its way to the melting pot... Pity,..? Maybe yes,but this also caused the constant development and renewal of silver objects for daily use and adapted to the demands of time. Throughout the twentieth century, interest faded in silver objects. The discovery of new materials such as stainless steel and plastics allowed the development of interesting objects on a large scale production at low prices. Besides that, investment value of silver and gold was less important by the wide acceptance of cash and bankpapers. Then, arriving at the beginning of a new century, we are again becomming interested in individual designs. Exclusivity is a product. Art and design will make some fusion in several disciplines and between Art and Design merges craft.... Skills, knowledge and expertise in developing, producing and creating unique objects, as if it were re-discovered.
During this period, an old dream of Thalen & Thalen became true. Gain attention of contemporary silverware. Again develop objects for daily use and objects that seem to be for daily use, but which are in reality stand alone art objects. Objects created from a huge unrelenting passion and a skill like that seems lost forever. Traditional skills complemented and alternated with the latest technology, to create inspiring and sensual objects. If than, also at the end of the first decade of this century, it shows that the value of precious metals is much more stable than that of bubble funds and virtual enterprises, time has come to let the world get acquainted with modern silver objects again. Simultaneously to realize our dream for contemporary silver objects we study the limits of the technical possibilities of silver. One of the elements here is to see how large objects can be created in silver and especially in pure unalloyed silver. The biggest possible deliverable sheet metal parts were too small for us, so we had to find a way to create fine silver sheets (999 ‰) in such dimensions necessary for us to create our ideas. When we succeeded last year to find a way, this cleared the way for our mega bowl project The starting point for this project are large 15 to 20 kilo heavy sheets of fine silver with dimensions of one square meter and a thickness of 1.5 mm to 2,5mm...
With this as a base we will create a number of large and high bowls, for which we find inspiration in two very different directions. The inspiration to create these objects we find in two different directions. There is the influence of Roman amphoras, showing us simple shapes, designed for practical use and in a stunning beauty that still amazes us today. Secondly, our objects are marked by the character of a grand and open landscape, with injures and eroded by sun and wind. Through the process of hammering, stretching and shrinking of the silver sheet, we create a surface structure with both a brutal character, and at the same time with the softness of silk, which is reminiscent of desert dunes in their ceaseless motion. From the flat silver sheet, we design, raise and “pull” the objects into the final result. A process that takes many hundreds of thousands hammer blows from our highly polished hammers. During this process, the silver sheets and objects need to be annealed and cooled many times to make the silver pliable again. During the hammering process the dimensions of the silver sheet will increase more than 35%. At the top of some of the objects the diameter will be less than twenty centimetres. All these changes in the material take place only by our hammering process. No cutting or welding techniques will be used to shape the objects. Some of the creations will be provided with a “cut out” text that the personal story of each object reflects. All the objects will have this “silky” touch, so typical for the use of fine silver.
Of course, all our works will be marked with the famous silver stamps, guarantee for quality, origin and year of creation an important “tracing possibility” for collectors., With our MegaBowl project we investigate the very limits of the possibilities in silver and especially of fine silver objects on a scale hitherto not thought possible. To do this, it was necessary to adapt our workshop and develop and create tools in a size you will not easily find in our profession. However, it appears that our tenacity, our passion and enthusiasm, are perhaps the most important elements to our project’s success. We hope that you as a spectator and perhaps as a future owner of one of our works, enjoy it as much as we do. rob & jaap Thalen.
prototype for megabowl (fine silver 999‰) 12x12x6 cm
prototype for megabowl (fine silver 999‰) 10x10x9cm
prototype for megabowl (fine silver 999‰) 8x8x14 cm
MegaBowl 001 (detail) fine silver 999/‰. dimensions 40 x 50 x 80 cm
for more information about our MegaBowl project and our silver objects in general, please contact us at: phone: +32 (0)87 270918 cell: +32 473 842435 e-mail: thalen.thalen@base.be e-mail: thalen.thalen@gmail.com facebook: Thalen & Thalen iii-gallery Brussels, Rue St.Anne 40 (Grand Sablon), 1000 Brussels phone: +32 (0)2 5123012
prototype for megabowl (fine silver 999‰) 8 x10 x14 cm
Thalen & Thalen contemporary silver objects Francorchamps / Brussels www.belgiansilverworks.com