'TERRA COTTA 2.2' designed by Talia Mukmel is a part of ongoing philosophical research that strives to combine material and cultural motives coming from ancient civilizations together with modern industrial processing methods.

In 2011, as part of a project at ‘Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design’, Talia had her first challenge when she was inspired by ancient civilizations to create only from what she had around her close physical surroundings. The result was a new series of bowls, made by sand, flour, and threads giving it an authentic ancient look. In this 2016 series, Talia blurs the boundaries between the past and the present by adding a modern aspect to the creation process. Instead of using threads to create a unique pattern, she designed a metal grid using photo etching technology.

In both projects, Talia has altered different mixtures of sand and flour. Sand and flour are raw and very common materials, used by the majority of the population around the world all through out history and to this day. In most ancient cultures, people had learned their physical surroundings finding essential uses for their needs through the most natural and basic elements they could find around them.

The use of these two elements - sand and flour - is crucial for this research. Flour is mostly made up of starch, which is the main element that allows the grains of sand to stick together. The mixture of these elements swells up in the "baking process" to a unique pattern so that no two bowls are exactly the same.

This is a project of the cultural mix. Traditional techniques combined with modern technologies in search of a new identity, perhaps the rise of a new culture?

Photography by Ben Yuster.