I first learned about Parisian-based sculptor/designer Celia Nkala’s line from Perception Park from a post I wrote for Design Milk. Instantly smitten (with her work and her… she’s so pretty), I struck up an email correspondence. She told me a bit about what prompted her to sculpt and work with bones and even sent me a two necklaces (made out of dog teeth!) to see how they’d play in the American market. Last week, she emailed me with photos of new creations, this time around, done in black.
Vertebrae Vase
The Ossements collection was inspired by a real human hip bone that Celia found in a flea market in Brussels about a year-and-a-half ago. She says, “I was fascinated while the others were disgusted.”
To make it more “acceptable,” she sculpted the shape in porcelain. The Iliac bone was the first sculpture she had ever created. She borrowed a human skeleton from the anatomy department of a medical university to use as a model for the other pieces, which include vertebrae and sacrum.
She recently introduced shiny black versions of several of the works. Here is a sampling:
Iliac Bones in Enameled Porcelain
Sacrum in Enameled Porcelain
Rib Cage Sculpture in Enameled Porcelain