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Sebastian Gunawan: Art on a plate
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Classic: The collection’s motifs are inspired by pure, harmonious and natural beauty. (Courtesy of Muara Bagdja team/-)
M
ultitalented designer Sebastian Gunawan has shown that his creativity has no limits, going beyond the creation of stunning fashion and jewelry.
Seba, as he is better known, is following in the footsteps of world renowned labels like Hermes and Dior by expanding his creativity to fine tableware.
The newly launched Arcadia Zen X Sebastian Gunawan collection — his second collaboration with Zen, which is one of Asia’s leading tableware manufacturers — transforms dining into an unforgettable art experience.
The collection — which consists of 14 exquisite pieces from show and salad plates, serving and dessert bowls to cups and tea pots — is perfect not just to create a memorable dining experience, but also as an ideal gift or to simply impress guests and relatives.
The collection’s motifs are inspired by pure, harmonious and natural beauty — purity is reflected by white, peacefulness by blue and warmth through yellow. The motifs and colors are fused into one, producing a beautiful harmony.
For the designer, who is known for his attention to detail, and with a fashion career spanning over a quarter of a century, tableware matters.
“The way that food is served on fine and beautiful tableware can intensify the perception of flavor,” Seba told The Jakarta Post.
Since Arcadia is his second collaboration with Zen, the designer, who also has a porcelain collection passed down by his mother-in-law to him and his wife and partner-in-creativity Cristina Panarese, said the chemistry was already there.
This time around, the time-consuming process was spent turning design into product, which took around six months, because the Arcadia collection comes in different shapes and sizes, compared to regular tableware, to fit with the desired designs and motifs.
“The most interesting part about working on the design was incorporating my signature design without losing the meaning of the tableware, its shape and purpose,” said the designer who last year created the Blue Moon
collection with Zen by blending batik and Peranakan motifs.
Born in Jakarta, Seba began his fashion journey at an early age, using his mother’s style to spark an interest in fashion that he later honed from Los Angeles in the United States to Milan in Italy. In 1992, the Sebastian Gunawan label was born and the rest is history.
Zen itself has been making quality tableware for more than 40 years, producing the whitest porcelain on the market, by offering a broad range of Western and Oriental shapes, glazes and decorations.
“A fashion designer has a different perspective to a tableware designer in examining tableware design. This unique perspective yields unexpected designs,” Tjandra Suwarto, the president director of PT Indo Porcelain the company behind Zen, said about the reason behind the company’s collaboration with Seba.
“Besides, as a high fashion designer, Sebastian Gunawan’s creations come with an exclusive image, just like our products.”
