The award of 2015: the fantastic circus of Pepijn van den Nieuwendijk

Under the name Cirque de Pepin, Van den Nieuwendijk (1970, Waddinxveen) creates paintings, ceramics, and illustrations. He studied graphic design at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. His ‘circus’ is a metaphor for a place where anything can happen, and in which fantastic animals take center stage. His favorites include the dodo, the mammoth, and the Chinese dragon. “Dodos have a tragic story—they were driven to extinction by the Dutch. And I love the symbolism of luck associated with dragons.”

Symbolism in the awards

That symbolism is also reflected in the Piket Awards. “Since you’re an incredibly lucky bird if you win a prize for work you likely love doing the most, I wanted to create an award that refers to luck and a prosperous future in various ways.” To achieve this, Van den Nieuwendijk selected luck symbols and symbols for prosperity from various cultures.

He has been working on the awards for several months. First, he sketches a design in his sketchbook, then starts sculpting with clay. A friend who is a potter shapes the vases for him, while he personally sculpts the ornaments that go on them. Before deciding on the colors, he makes "tests" with strips of baked clay, testing glaze colors. "You always bake the pottery once first, this is called 'biscuit baking.' The vase needs to go in the oven again for the glaze, and we do that at 1160 degrees."

Glaze

In the studio where he creates his sculptures, there’s a one-meter-high flower sculpture by a Belgian artist that came out of the oven in a brilliant purple color. The vibrant color in the glaze only shows up after baking, explains Van den Nieuwendijk. “You can’t see it clearly when you apply it, as the glaze is a bit pastel in color. You never know exactly what you’ll get, so you always have to test it.”

For the glaze layers, he uses recipes from the studio’s existing recipe books. These books contain all the recipes for every color combination that has been developed since the studio opened. New recipes are added daily. “The founders were former employees of the Delft pottery factory de Porceleyne Fles, Henk Trumpie and Jacques van Galen. They started their own business in 1968 because they wanted to make large ceramic sculptures in bright colors, something that wasn’t common at the time,” says Van den Nieuwendijk.

The vase

The assignment is special to him: "You can go in any direction with it." For the award design, Van den Nieuwendijk chose a vase, as he had been designing many recently. "Vases have a strong historical background. They have been made throughout history and across cultures for various functions." To create an award, he studied how other examples of awards—such as silver and gold trophies, and even the Oscars—are displayed in award cabinets.

The vase had to be "a real award," according to Van den Nieuwendijk. "It needed to be an eclectic vase with different parts, on a golden block. I made a mold for that, and the vase later sits on it." For the different art disciplines, he thought of separate figurines that he creates individually and then attaches to the vase. For instance, in his sketchbook, he paired a quote from Shakespeare's Hamlet with a skull sketch, and there’s also a dancing monkey. “These are the little parts that give the piece a light-hearted and humorous side.”

The vases Van den Nieuwendijk makes are decorative. He, like the ancient Greeks, believes this is the most beautiful approach. His vase is a sculpture: “You can’t put tulips in it.” His inspiration came from “Chinese vases from the Ming and Qing dynasties, but also from Rococo vases. Overly extravagant designs, but with balanced decoration.”

Gold

It wouldn’t be a real award without some gold shining here and there. Therefore, the Chinese dragon gets a golden glaze, made from a type of powder dissolved in oil. It’s not cheap either: “That jar costs about six hundred euros, and you really don’t want to drop it!” warns Van den Nieuwendijk. “It’s called the ‘luster layer,’ the third layer of baking at 700 degrees. It becomes a thin layer, and all the gold pieces clump together when baked.” He also adds gold to other small parts. “Ultra kitsch!” he laughs.

Van den Nieuwendijk has a suggestion for the winners who will take home an award: “I don’t want it to end up in one of those cabinets. It should be a piece you can place on a table in your home.”