Exhibition / SI.LI – CELEBRATION

10 years anniversary of si.li

Hi, si.li,

it’s been 10 years since you landed as a new brand with original ceramic and porcelain products on the Slovak scene. You have your parents – both ceramists, both graduates of the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava and both authors with a distinctive artistic handwriting and approach to creation. Simona Janišová and Linda Viková. The abbreviations of their first names are in the title. You certainly know that, as well as the fact that they work together, but also each alone, and that besides your dear brand si.li, they are also connected by a shared studio on Šoltésova Street with a ceramics kiln and a small “showroom”. Oh, and besides them, Linda’s mouse lives there on the table island and Simone’s dog often lives there.

Si.li I don’t know if you know, but when you arose the situation and the times were different. The Slovak scene almost completely lacked original ceramic and porcelain products in limited editions. The offer was poor and if you wanted something different, contemporary and original, there was nowhere to choose. Linda and Simona understood this at some point and decided that, in addition to their art and more conceptual work, they would also develop the public’s sensitivity to their favourite material through joint collections under one brand. Your tableware, plates, cups, bowls, spoons, jugs, pots, decorative objects or Christmas ornaments are today on the shelves, cupboards and in the showcases of many households, not only in Bratislava. They are used every day, admired, and after years some of them may even be battered or broken. Your advantage is that your new owners develop a personal relationship and a small dependence on you. You’re not just another ordinary cup, a plate from a chain… you’re unique, you’re not many, you have an identity and you’re beautiful. You are also li. Limited, literarily poetic, at times linear, at times deliberately shape contorted. And you have a bit of an Asian “vibe” crossed with traditional Slovak ceramics. I mean, not in a primordial way. Your artists like to abstract, minimize and modify the patterns. For example, when they were creating a collection for Slovak National Gallery inspired by the Slovak sculptor Kompánek and his totemic morphology. Or in the lyrical colouring of your simple pots, or in the “airbrush” glaze on a deformed jug. And I also like it when you’re just white glazed on the inside surfaces and earthy warm on the outside. Somehow it clears the head and puts things in order on the table. See, you’re different, different, distinctive.

Si.li in ten years a lot of things will change, our world and the universe will move, you are also changing all the time, you are transforming subtly. What awaits you I don’t know, but I wish you all the best and especially good new collections and new homes where you will make joy and develop a housing culture. And few broken shards and good firings.

PS: Cheers. And definitely don’t be a silly and don’t stop.

Ľubica

Photo on the invitation: Martin Tomečko.

The text was written on the occasion of the SI.LI – CELEBRATION brand exhibition at Art Books Coffee.