ZAG 10 YEARS !

ZAG : 10 YEARS !
As we developed the ZAG collection of three carafes in summer 2010, we could hardly have imagined how these forms would be received. They are now integral to our identity, and we are keen to mark these ten first years with a celebration.
What makes one piece arouse more interest than another? Luckily, we don’t have an answer to this question. There is no formula or rule, and a creator cannot decide himself how his work will be received.
Building on an improvised sketch, a few lines stood out to us and we wanted to take them further. That is no doubt one explanation for this very graphical look, a silhouette that was first sketched out on paper, in two dimensions, then fleshed out to form this first study. How do you project a drawing in space and bring into relief your first ideas?
For some, these jagged forms evoke cubism, and a lineage could no doubt be sought there. As far as we were concerned, it was more about playing with the limits and tensions generated by the cuts between the mouths and the bodies, amplified by the handles – playing with the limits, the crossing of lines, and the rhythm, to produce living, dancing carafes.
These choices and desires most certainly contributed to ZAG carafes becoming, and remaining, the pieces in our collection the most pictured in magazines, those most identifiable as our work, and those most sought-after in France and abroad. Without a decision on our part, they have become emblematic of our Atelier, immediately identifiable.
They have also been acquired by public and private collections, including the French National Contemporary Art Collection (FNAC) and the Vitra Design Museum.
All this has driven us to organize this special anniversary celebration. Firstly, to thank all those who have contributed to the success and spread of the ZAG carafes, and secondly to seize this opportunity, ten years on, to see how we could reinterpret their codes.
The result is the Double ZAG, a hybrid piece just as suited to life as a vase as to service as a carafe. Its silhouette is double, thanks to its handles and its reading: from the side, it almost looks like a simple vertical tube; while from the front, it is marked by a symmetrical play of angles and crossing lines.
Like its forbears, the Double ZAG is available in white earthenware or in rough terracotta, now Atelier Polyhedre’s signature material.