Last January I posted an article about the ‘Hallelujah‘ by Wonderable here on upcycleDZINE. When I met the founder Carla Peters on IMM Cologne this year I was very enthusiastic about her designs, products and the way Wonderable works: “We place our design talent and marketing expertise at the service of traditional craftspeople from faraway lands. In this way we contribute to the creation of skilled jobs and prosperity for people in these countries. The great thing about it is, the more Wonderables we sell, the more beautiful the world gets.”
Souvenir covered with typical Dutch trinkets
And that’s why I think Wonderable is such a great company and that’s also a reason for showing another great product, the ‘Souvenir‘. A vase not just like any other, but a vase with a funny twist. It might look a bit shoddy to some of you, but it isn’t. It’s a beautiful unique and fun piece of ceramic. The Souvenir vases give new life to unsold Dutch tourist trinkets, manufactured long ago by a Thai ceramics factory for export to shops in the Netherlands. The vases are covered in typical Dutch trinkets from Thailand. Boxes of these ceramics miniatures had been lying in a Thai workshop, waiting to be exported to the Netherlands after sales suddenly went flat years ago. Now they’re getting a new lease on life as part of these Wonderable vases.
Each vessel is unique, thanks to the ever-changing selection of miniatures, and numbered with a hand-painted ceramic disc. The Thai makers sign and date each Souvenir vase inside the rim before sending the miniatures off to the Netherlands at last. Transformed into unique objects, they’re now fit to be displayed in the choicest spot in the house.
“The vases are produced by Sang Arun. This is a typical Thai family business from Lampang, Northwest Thailand, an area well-known for its ceramics. Because of its many producers, the region has a great wealth of technical know-how. Sang Arun specialises in large series that are efficiently and sustainably produced. All its products are hand-painted, drawing on the decorators’ many years of experience.”
Photos © Wonderable
Design by Wonderable
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