Output details

HemDing

The artefact is the developed outcome of Fabian’s overarching research and exploration of ‘the Bowl and the Handle’. HemDing originated in two disparate fragments: a vintage wooden D-shaped spade handle and large porcelain bowl. The artefact’s innovations are in its design concept ‘hemDing’ which, on one hand, linguistically codes the place where the handles were sourced (Hemdingen, Germany). On the other, its combination with ‘ding’ (the German for ‘thing’) ironically references Kant’s ‘noumena’ (‘thing in itself’) to express philosophically, that which cannot entirely be known, materially or conceptually. HemDing’s aims and objectives, therefore, were to explore German language play to evoke an object or a ‘thing’, by means of qualities that confound design categories, but are shaped instead through rituals and use values, stimulating the viewer through the element of surprise to revise and extend their existing knowledge.

HemDing’s international prominence has been demonstrated in exhibitions at the Milan Furniture Show (2008: New Business Gallery, Milan) and its subsequent production by Thorsten van Elten Ltd for distribution in Europe, Asia and the US. Since its launch in 2008, HemDing has also stimulated reviews in international design journals and magazines (including Design Issues, Wallpaper, Le Figaro and Beaux-Arts), and is regularly shown at ‘Maison et Objets’ (Paris) and ‘100% Design’, London. Reviews, including Le Figaro’s (Madame) have drawn attention to HemDing’s innovative play with a post-modern aesthetics of nostalgia for an Arcadian nature in acclaiming hemDing’s ‘neorustique’ design; while the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, highlighted its language of ‘domestic objects that sensually occupy a much more thoughtful table landscape than the usual’. Further showcased at the ‘Memorabilia’ exhibition (International Design Biennale ‘Reciprocity’: Liège, 2012), HemDing was one of 60 objects chosen by an international jury from a selection of 400 candidates from 31 different countries.