Dekselpot 4 1993
Jean Lemmens BE
lacquer, gold and silver on brass; lid made of wood, gold and boxwood
purchase from the designer, 1994
Jean Lemmens spent years perfecting his skills in the traditional Japanese lacquerware, called urushi, in which one uses the poisonous sap of a lacquer tree. The designer travelled several times to Japan, where he visited dozens of studios and masters to learn this secular craft. “It is a complex and labour-intensive discipline”, he once explained. “The sap of the Rhus vernicifera or Chinese lacquer tree is purified and then mixed with mineral colourants. Art objects are painted with this material, but this is radically different from painting with paint or varnish. You need to apply at least 15 layers to achieve any result. That number can easily rise to 400. These layers are wafer-thin, about a three-hundredths of a millimetre. Lacquering demands tremendous precision and dedication. It is an almost alchemical and meditative occupation, which often takes months.”
SOURCES
Astrid Fobelets, Jean Lemmens: zilversmid en lakkunstenaar, Stichting Kunstboek en VIZO, Oostkamp/Brussel, 2004, pp. 35-51;
Rudi Smeets, Een meditatieve en alchemistische bezigheid, in: De Standaard, 27/2/2012.