A chat with the designers and creators of
The curvy vase B-Fora
Nicolau Dos Santos e Stephanie Blanchard – @iammi.iammi
Attention please, we are here to present you a cool design piece: the curvy vase B-fora by IAMMI.
IAMMI is a design studio based in Nice that designs and creates original and unconventional products and experiments with shapes and materials, creating unlimited editions, unique creations and collaborations with artists.
Their statement vase is the B-fora vase: you can find it on our shop.
- It’s a design piece
- It’s a contemporary version of the Greek amphora
- It’s a body positive reminder
- It’s handmade and very cool
Read all about this curvy vase 👇🤩
Hi Stephanie and Nicolau, thank you for being here. How did you start working at IAMMI?
Thank you very much, it is always a pleasure to talk about passions!
In short we are a creative duo: Stephanie, art director, and Nicolau, product designer.
Until 2019, each of us has worked independently following clients briefs.
However, both of us have always nurtured the desire of creating freely, conceiving something according to our own ideas, without the “compromise of clients requests”.
Finally, during the first lockdown, we had the chance to dedicate time to our project: IAMMI!
B-fora vase is clearly inspired by the female body: is there a precise icon to which it takes shape? What do you want to communicate with this product?
We started with an object that is already part of people’s cultural baggage, the very famous Greek amphora, and we re-designed it.
The theme of the vase that welcomes water and keeps a plant alive immediately referred us to the figure of the mother’s womb that guards the life inside.
So we realized that the vase had to represent the female world and in a certain sense celebrate it in all its beauty.
The intent of the B-fora is to create a re-connection with ourselves: sinuous curves and two handles, carefully designed to keep the vase in perfect balance, give the vase an identity and a human value. Much more than a simple container, B-fora is a vase that transmits sensations, a vase that pushes you to act, a vase that wants to create connections, serenity and peace with the body. A vase that acts as a declaration of intent, a manifesto to freedom and the art of living things around us.
This is therefore the message we want to bring with our B-fora.
Your project is the perfect union between tradition and innovation. How do you make a B-Fora? What are the main steps?
- We started first with the 3D model, so we sculpted it and prepared the file and then we printed and finished it by hand.
- Once the print model was created, we turned to a local craftsman who reproduced it with the traditional casting mold technique.
- As for the finishing, each B-fora is hand painted with an airbrush, passed in the oven and left raw without adding crystalline to the outside of the vase.
Nicolau, we have seen some videos in which you apply a paste on B-fora. What is it about? What is it for? Is it a part of the production process that you like or do you have another phase that you like best?
It is putty, I apply it on the prototypes that come out of the 3D printer to finish the surfaces.
It is certainly a very interesting part of the production process, because it is the moment in which for the first time you can see and touch the design created.
However, the design phase remains my favorite!
“Much more than a simple container, B-fora is a vase that wants to create connections, serenity and peace with the body. “
Stephanie – IAMMI founder
We know it’s not an easy question, but which color of B-Fora do you like best? Stephanie? Nicolau?
Stephanie: Blue Klein, it’s an incredibly intense blue, magnetic in my eyes.
Nicolau: Mozzarella (white), I like the combo between a bold design and a minimal color!
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