mega bowl project by
T h a l e n
&
T h a l e n
contemporary silver art objects
copyright Š Thalen & Thalen 2011 nothing within this brochure can be used without the written permission of the copyright holders
T h a l e n
c o n t e m p o r a r y
&
T h a l e n
s i l v e r
o b j e c t s
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Looking for the limits of what is possible in contemporary silver objects, we decided to make a serie of bowls in fine silver.... in a size that exceeds every possible imagination...
m e g a - b o w l p
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After a long search we found a way to create fine silver 999/000 objects on a very large scale. The starting point for this project is a large 15 kilo sheet of fine silver with dimensions of one square meter and a thickness of 1.5 mm ... 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. First, there are influences of Roman amphoras and secondly, they refer to wide open landscapes, eroded and attacked by the sun and wind. From the flat silver sheet, we design, raise and “pull� the object into the final result. A process that takes many hundreds of thousands hammer blows from our highly polished hammers. During this process, the silver plate needs 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 centimeters. 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 and origin and an important “tracing possibility” for collectors. The first presentation of this collection will will take place the beginning of May 2011 in the famous gallery “de Mijlpaal” in Belgium. The first international event will take place around and during the 2011 Chicago SOFA Art Fair. In 2012 it is intended that this first collection will be further exhibited in Basel, Miami, Hong Kong and Tokyo .....
Starting March 2011 we will release a number of little films on Youtube, showing on a daily basis the progress of some of our Mega-bowls. For more information see our website: www.belgiansilverworks.com
project This mega-bowl project requires us to adept our atelier for this special purpose. We had to make new stakes and anvils that can deal with the dimensions of the objects. We had to create special hammers for the job. Annealing these big size objects made us look for special torches and what to think of the large basins we need to cool down the heated objects. The other thing we discovered during the build of the first prototype in cupper, was that we can only work up to a maximum of six hours a day.... which means that one mega-bowl will take up to two to three months to finish. Realizing the first series of mega-bowls, that will make a world tour in the coming years, meant that we have to look for help to cover the initial investment. For this reason, we have developed a plan that covers this initial investment. At up to a maximum of 9 participants, we offer the possibility to adopt a mega-bowl to the initial cost of materials and giving us the opportunity during a period of three years to exhibit these silver objects.
For an investment that covers the silver costs, plus a contribution towards the inevitable costs of constructing each object, we offer those investors an object that represents a value which is at least three times the amount of the invested amount. A contract that will guarantee the participations investment will be recorded through our solicitor and guarantees your investment during the period that the object is exhibited. We are happy to discuss the taylor made possibilities with you, where we again expressly point out that this possibility exists only for the first nine properties.
Thalen
&
Thalen
contemporary silver objects
thalen.thalen@base.be thalen.thalen@gmail.com w w w. b e l g i a n s i l v e r w o r k s . c o m