Johanna Hartzheim: Sweet Simplicity

(adam štěch) Young designer Johanna Hartzheim chose utensils, which we use to dulcify our lives, as the theme of her diploma work and as a test of her qualities of designing aesthetical simplicity.

Johanna Hartzheim graduated from the Köln International School of Design in 2009. Her final work represents only two minimalist objects for a dining table. Two different sweeteners, sugar and honey, deserved two beautiful containers. The designer used a sugar bowl and a honey bowl made from beech wood as a formal exercise in which she combined minimalist shapes with logical playfulness.

“People can always be playful, even when they profess pure simplicity. One must simply be sure that that form will always be unaffected and not crazy and gaudy,” explains the designer of her school project, which is characterized by both formal qualities and unusual craftsmanship precision.

The honey bowl consists of a skittle-like container with a lid and a red-varnished spoon. The resulting shape is reminiscent of a familiar bubble blower. The blue-varnished sugar bowl consists of a simple goblet with a cut out hole for the spoon and a cylindrical lid with a groove for the spoon, which covers the container like an ingenious roof or hat.

Simplicity can be so sweet…

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