Ontwerp voor een servetring 1874 - 1932

This is Mathieu Lauweriks’ design for a napkin ring on paper. The cool thing about design, like painting, is how an idea becomes a thing. Here, Lauweriks uses a delicate and precise touch to plan out a simple spiral form. I can see him thinking through the material constraints of actually making the napkin ring. It's all about the twist, right? How much of a turn can you get before it's too much? And how do you make it smooth? This reminds me of when I used to make wonky pots. I wasn't interested in the function so much as how my hands could mess with the clay. Lauweriks’s napkin ring, though, is functional. It comes from a very different place. But, in a way, it’s still about testing what is possible, which is something all artists do.