Aside from having the best name in recorded history, Barnaby is an artist who re-imagines mass manufactured or antique porcelain figurines. Definitely fueled by a creative and dark sense of humor, I appreciate it.
“I think people are shocked because the models catch them off guard – they’re seeing these usually traditional, pretty porcelain models in a totally new context.”
Barnaby also helped create a short film called Damaged Goods featuring some of his characters. I normally get derailed with any online video over 5 minutes, but this is worth watching if your boss is out for an extended lunch.
“The film marks Barford’s first venture into animated film, creating a new world for his porcelain characters. “I’ve always seen my pieces as scenes from a film – I want viewers to make up what happened before and what might happen afterwards – so it felt like a natural progression to work on a film,” Barford explains.
The film tells a tragic story played by porcelain figurines residing in a bric-a-brac shop. It explores notions of forbidden love, material wealth and class divisions using traditions of value within ceramics, while also turning the classic ‘rags to riches’ plot on its head with an unexpected twist. “The shelves in the film become the entire world for the characters,” Barford explains, “they represent different strands of society not necessarily through breeding but through material wealth with the top shelves adorned with lavish crystal, silver and gold objects while the floor is only occupied by broken discarded items.”
The film is populated by a host of characters; from the hero and heroine – a down-at-heel boy and a beautiful girl; to a sinister male character who could be the girl’s father or lover; to a cast of circus show freaks; to the genteel card-playing, piano-playing blue and white figurines representing the middle classes.”
Check out Damaged Goods here.
Learn more about Barnaby over at design boom ♥
