Ceramic Deli

Tero Kuitunen's first solo exhibition at Ceramic Deli Kämp Gallery is also a pop-up shop. The door of the deli opens to showcase a collection of objects that are inspired by the world of food: ceramic glaze shines like icing and the ceramic sausage makes you want to take a bite.

Which one would you pick?

Would you take one, two or the entire box?

At the end of the 80's in Kymenlaakso region of Finland, a dreamy delicacy factory started its operations. It was a sweet sugary cocktail: a combination of childhood innocence and, simultaneously, abundance. Plop, a donut! Plop, and another one, and another, and another: endless rows, layers and stacks of glossy delicacies. One was decorated with stripes, the other with sprinkles - the third had a bit of both. A kind of unreachable utopia had suddenly turned into reality.

The rhythmic pace of the bakery is still ongoing in the work of designer Tero Kuitunen, who spent his childhood at the family's doughnut factory. Kuitunen works kind of like on a production line of doughnuts, that are first dipped in icing and then assembled in boxes. Everything is determined by a sort of controlled coincidence: the work is deliberate, but in the end there is always room for surprise, and each object always comes out as an unique individual - just like in a donut lineup. Touch is essential in Kuitunen's work: their makers's handprint stays in handmade ceramic objects and the object itself invites people to touch. Working with ceramics gives Kuitunen joy and a sense of meaning.