Ott / Another paradigmatic ceramic

DESIGN: Seok Hyeon Yoon

South Korea

make me! 2020

2nd Paradyż Award 20.000 PLN funded by Ceramika Paradyż

Glazed ceramic pieces are not recyclable for their re-production and they mostly end up in a landfill. In this process, various ground pollutants are caused by chemical and toxic particles resulting from some glazings. “It’s a shame that clay, one of the most natural materials, is treated in this way” says Seok-hyeon Yoon. Technically, the clay itself is reusable as chamotte, powder of baked clay. Glassy ingredients of glazing complicate ceramic recycling. Because when they are baked as one, they fuse together. Then the earth is not pure anymore. He thought if he can get pure earth again from recycling systems such as those of glass and plastic, the earth might be reused through re-production. So he searched for alternative glazings and found out “Ott” known as Korean traditional lacquering material. It’s a natural resin from the Ott tree and was widely used as glazing for woodenware in the past. To glaze Ott on the ceramic surface, it doesn’t need to be baked as it just dries out.

Seok-hyeon Yoon discovered an interesting fact that it evaporates when it’s heated with the high temperature in kilns. This means that we recover pure ceramic material that we can reuse. This project aims for actualizing ceramic recycling for its re-production through introducing potentials of alternative glazing Ott by applying it on domestic ceramic objects to experiment with its practicalities and aesthetics.