All of this beautiful tableware is made by squashing clay in a hydraulic press
Each one is completely unique.
Hydraulic presses have become one of the internet’s favourite things – with a YouTube channel dedicated to crushing anything and everything in one racking up close to two million followers.
However, it is not just destruction hydraulic presses are good for – as Granby Workshop in Liverpool demonstrates.
The manufacturer specialises in architectural ceramics and was founded by Turner Prize winning design collective Assemble.
For their latest project, they are creating beautiful cups and plates by squashing together coloured clays in a 60-tonne hydraulic press – with the resulting piece of tableware being completely unique.
The cups their press will create are for both hot and cold drinks, and almost 500 people backed their creation – signalling they are likely to be quite popular.
A group of residents started cleaning, planting, painting and campaigning in the neighbourhood, and in 2011 entered into “an innovative form of community land ownership to secure 10 empty houses and renovate them as affordable homes”.
They brought in Assemble to help and in 2015 won the Turner Prize, which is presented to a British visual artist each year, after creating a range of products for the renovated homes.
The group said: “Now we want to introduce new products to help grow the workshop and expand the team.
“You’ll get beautiful one-of-a-kind tableware and we’ll be able to keep producing exciting new products, and investing in Granby.”
