DESIGN >
Trademark of innovation
Written by: Štěpánka Strouhalová
Photo by: Věroslav Sixt

	Daniel Piršč

Playful legerdemain with innovative ideas are typical of porcelain designer Daniel Piršč. Visitors to his workshop can expect to find cups on hills instead of ordinary coffee mugs.

"I LIKE MAKING things so that there's a story or legacy behind them, not just interesting shapes," explains this designer, who created a porcelain chess set with a convex board to suggest the battle for Bílá hora (the figures have magnetic bases). "There's no concept behind it, but the items should be a bit playful, and should create a certain atmosphere for the people who use them," he says.
Since the third year of his studies at UMPRUM (Institute of Applied Arts) in Prague he has been designing utilitarian porcelain goods. Immediately after completing his studies he enjoyed success with his original design in the Porcelán Loučky factory, which is now the well-known and popular tea set called Tereza, which is a permanent feature of the production program and is successfully exported to France, Germany, and Russia. The porcelain tea set, modeled on prehistoric paintings and featuring soft, rounded lines, makes drinking tea a pleasant tactile experience, and is also interesting for its two-layer treatment of bowls. "Perhaps I sound overly proud, but I think I was the first to come up with this idea. Today, four years later, it's a rather common technology used by many European designers," Piršč remarks. He uses his two-layer technique with a new, futuristic Neon bowl, which additionally plays with the transluscence of Chinese porcelain. "It's all in the detail, which makes it something different," the artist explains.
You cannot fail to recognize Piršč's hallmark, but for now only in collections of small, unique items. But he's said to be preparing a grandiose full dining set with 32 pieces, for fans of expansive table settings. "The pieces should be decorated in a Greek relief motif and rich in terms of colors and sculpted lines," says Piršč. "It should be very detailed, nearly kitsch, and I will try to make it a hit at a prestigious foreign porcelain factory."
He offers his works in the Prague galleries Qubus and De.facto, and he held a successful, three-month exhibition of all his works in the Česká spořitelna building on Národní třída, as well as a presentation in the Das Möble gallery in Vienna. He sometimes puts on exhibitions around the world with Czech Mania, a group of kindred-spirit designers (Belda, Olgoj Chorchoj, Velčovský, Lhotský, Plesl), displaying collections for design trade fairs and galleries. But as a true designer he claims that his works belong in the ordinary retail market.

vacation hideaways The mood for spring decor is flowery: aromatic as lemonade, colorful as raspberry candy. Preserves jars and decorative glass paints, Deco (LeFranc & Bourgeois) or Porcelaine (Pebeo), starting at CZK 100, arts supplies shops Floral plastic tablecloth, CZK 120, Ikea                                                                                                                                                    Mosaic tea-candle holder, CZK 1,186, Sia                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Metal containers, 3 for CZK 199, Ikea                                                                                                                                                       Ikea, Skandinávská 1, Praha 5 Sia, OC Nový Smíchov, Plzeňská 8, Praha 5