From the ongoing archive of openly affective object culture
Two cats, seemingly innocent. Cracked in their elegance, blushing with shameless softness. They allow themselves to be willingly filled – with flowers, with meaning, or with sentiment.
In a time that demands sharpness, speed, and sleek aesthetics, this vase emerges as a neo-infantile relic. A tangible reminder of an inner world where tenderness, absurdity, and affection are allowed space. Not as a joke. Not as a guilty pleasure. But as a serious alternative.
It is an object with no resistance to softness. And precisely for that reason, it invites reflection.
On how we live.
On what we hide.
On what we may, finally, allow back in.
✦ Origin & Context
This vase was discovered at a flea market in Italy, but its roots likely reach deeper – into the ceramic traditions of Central and Eastern Europe, where domestic figures such as cats, dogs, and flowers played a central role in interior life for decades.
In the socialist countries of the 20th century – particularly Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the former East Germany – a rich object culture emerged that was functional on the surface, yet opened a portal to escapism through color, fantasy, and folk symbolism. This folk-pop aesthetic evolved into a visual language of its own: often mass-produced, but bearing a moving, hand-painted touch.
The double-headed cat fits squarely within this tradition: as banal as it is magical, as industrial as it is affectively charged. An object long dismissed as kitsch, but now – in post-postmodern times – reads more like a form of cultural memory. A residual form of longing.
✦ Specifications
Material: glazed ceramic, hand-painted
Motif: cobalt-blue floral pattern on a white base
Color accents: pink cheeks, black noses
Origin: presumed Poland or Czechoslovakia, circa 1960s–1980s
Found: at a flea market in Italy
Unique piece: traces of time enhance its emotional presence
Dimensions: approx. 21 cm high × 16 cm wide × 8 cm deep
Weight: ± 650 grams
Shipping: Carefully packaged and shipped worldwide with tracking
🔵 Reframed, not Repurposed
Where once was kitsch, now stands clarity. No elements have been removed, corrected, or streamlined. Every detail remains — and that is the point. Like a ghost of another time made visible through colour, this object does not pretend to be new. It becomes more itself.
Part of an ongoing series of domestic relics — overlooked, overdone, or simply outdated — reawakened through the single, spiritual gesture of monochrome ultramarine. Rendered in Yves Klein blue, the objects shift category: from accessory to sculpture. From functional to iconic.
♻️ Circularity as Concept
We call it “reframed” because these objects are not erased. Their past lives remain visible — celebrated, even. Their flaws, patina, and odd proportions are all intact. But now, they are seen through the lens of artistic context and intentional colour.
What began as practical becomes conceptual.
What once faded into the background now demands presence.
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