Gottfried Palatin

Porcelain maker

©Gottfried Palatin

The geometer of boxes

Gottfried creates geometrical forms
His porcelain boxes are distinctive
He creates the models from alabaster plaster

Gottfried Palatin’s first passion was drawing, the discovery and exploration of geometry and perspectives with a pen and a piece of paper. It wasn’t until art lessons in grammar school when he got a lump of clay in his hands and suddenly realized that he was much more interested in being able to shape objects in three dimensions with his own hands. This eureka moment led to studies at the Stoob School of Ceramics, followed by extensive study visits to Asia. In 1984, Gottfried joined the Viennese porcelain art studio of Prof. Gundi Dietz, where he could fully immerse himself in the world of porcelain and started to develop his own design language. After working for numerous renowned manufacturers, in 2014 he decided to solely focus on his unique collection of porcelain boxes.

Interview

©Gottfried Palatin

©Gottfried Palatin

What is the process behind your geometrical forms?: I work with a special technique where the model for a newly designed object is not turned or built, but is sawn out of a block of alabaster plaster, cut and then precisely ground by hand into the intended shape.
How does this process manifest in the object?: The objects are not the result of spontaneous material reactions and chance, but from a sensitive and at the same time very focused development process.
Why boxes?: It is the special challenge which the box poses in porcelain that fascinates me. Because porcelain is shrinking by 15 % during the firing process at 1,300 degrees celsius in the kiln. Only when the prototype has been ground to the exact millimetre, the mould will shrink evenly so that the lid still perfectly fits.
Where did you acquire the necessary skills?: I worked with many leading manufacturers such as J.&L. Lobmeyer, Augarten, or Theresienthal. During all these projects I gained a skill-set that today enables me to carry out every step in the creation process myself, freeing my creativity from technical restrictions.

Gottfried Palatin is an expert artisan: he began his career in 1980