Plastic Bags | 2022

 

"What exactly are you studying?"

 

When I studied ceramic design at Bezalel, people always asked me what I was studying for my degree. I usually gave a brief, somewhat vague answer about ceramic techniques, but that's because I knew there wasn't just one answer, and it was more complex than that. The ceramic design degree at Bezalel was so multifaceted that it couldn't be simply explained.

 

One of the most interesting courses I took at Bezalel was a research course. During the course, I could choose any topic or material that interested me and investigate it.

 

Due to my engagement with recyclable materials over the course of my studies, I chose to research plastic bags, a product that entered our lives over the last 100 years and is not going to disappear anytime soon. I explored how I could use bags as a material that can wrap, color, and decorate ceramic vessels.

 

Over the course of the research, I conducted a series of tests in which I examined the plastic in various ways, trying to understand what happens to it when it's heated. I used different heating elements - ranging from an industrial stove, to an oven, toaster, hair straightener, and even an iron. With each experiment, I learned a bit more about the plastic; its color, its properties, and the ways I could utilize it for my research.

 

There were moments when I felt utterly lost and felt I had nothing with which to continue, and there were moments when I felt like I was more or less Einstein.

 

Even after a year of trials, I felt I was still just at the beginning, that I had so much more to discover and try, that the road ahead was still long. And I was totally up for it.