Google Earth was the starting point for Zurich-based designer Damian Fopp to create ceramic objects. By zooming in on Hollywood’s chic neighbourhoods, he was able to access images and types of celebrity swimming pools. This highly intrusive method allowed him to observe and analyse the various architectural eccentricities of public figures.
Five porcelain bowls bear witness to this formal research into the pools of Brad Pitt, Céline Dion, John Travolta, Frank Sinatra and Charlie Chaplin. Who has the biggest, most complex pool? These miniatures reveal private aspects of these artists and arouse a form of voyeurism in us. The play of scale gives a sense of ownership of these forms of wealth.
The use of a computer application bears witness to new practices in the field of design. These are new tools that are diverted, manipulated and reworked here with great humour and freshness.
Fopp has his own product design studio and works as a stage designer at the Museum für Gestaltung in Zurich.
