Recently, I was interviewed by Khaleejesque Magazine’s B. N. Bassam about my approach to art, arabic inspirations and more.

Ricardas Blazukas – The Man Behind The Artist.

Khaleejesque Magazine, The Industrial Issue #18, November – December 2015.

The spread is attached below.

My illustration for Noora Almusallam’s article ‘Global Culture Collision – coping with the want of modern and identity of the past’, Khaleejesque Magazine, The Industrial Issue #18, Nov/Dec 2015.

Khaleejesque is a thriving lifestyle and culture magazine that revolves around everything new, exciting and beautiful in the Arabian Gulf countries when it comes to the continuously evolving cultural scene.

Ricardas Blazukas – Children of the Concrete Jungle

Recently, the company I am working for – Pace – sponsored an issue of T Square Architecture Magazine, which is run by architecture students from Kuwait University. This is already their 15th issue. They decided to look back at the past, hence the theme for this issue was ‘Nostalgia’. Pace architects, and myself amongst them, wrote a series of articles and essays based on Nostalgia theme.

My story is called ‘Children of the Concrete Jungle’, where I tell a story of what it was like growing up in Fabijoniskes social estate blocks in Vilnius, the capital city of post-communist Lithuania.

Images of the magazine and the spread can be seen below. In case the text is too small to read, please use ‘Ctrl and +’ or ‘Cmd and +’ to zoom in.

Monumental Pissoir is a design proposal for public toilets for men in the Medina of Marrakech. The structure functioning as an inhabitable column or as a free standing object.

The proposal is a response to the Seven Towers of Seven Saints square in Marrakech. The square built in 2005 was since neglected – currently and predominantly used by locals as a public dump. Squatting, peeing and even glue-sniffing Morocans can be seen there at any time of day. The picture gallery below deomonstrates the square in its current state.

The ‘monumentality’ of the pissoir is inspired by Moroccan culture – colours, ceramics and vernacular living. The architecture of the pissoir is composed of handmade interlocking ceramic components. The pictured model / sculpture below is scale 1:5:

The ceramic components were hand made using a laser-cut mould and then fired in a self made raku kiln:

The interlocking components have a simple yet flexible geometry, which allows to create various interlocking patterns:

Eddie Blake, an architect and founding member of  Studio Weave, wrote about my work:

“Blazukas’ experiments with firing clay in a variety of his own self-built kilns are beautiful objects in their own right. His ceramics reflect such a deft touch, and an instinctive response to material.

The reason they are worth writing about is that they feed perfectly into a really well-developed design proposal for a ceramics complex in Marrakech. Blazukas obviously really grappled with the brief, and it dealt him a few heavy blows, but he followed it well and the results are beautiful. His drawings are only outshone by his ceramics.”

This article was also posted on Design Curial website, can be found by clicking here.

More about the ‘Monumental Pissoir’ that can be found in my Marrakech project portfolio here.

The same typography that I developed for the ‘here comes everybody‘ ceramic piece was applied to create this woven DS15 sign.

]]> http://whycgi.com/Ricardas/?feed=rss2&p=844 0 http://whycgi.com/Ricardas/?p=829&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=here-comes-everybody http://whycgi.com/Ricardas/?p=829#comments Fri, 19 Sep 2014 11:59:10 +0000 http://whycgi.com/Ricardas/?p=829 This ceramic typography sign was a design I did for Design Studio 15 End of Year Exhibition at Westminster University in July 2014.

The typography of the sign as well as its aesthetic quality was designed using chance techniques. The letters are assembled out of small hand-pressed interconnecting clay components. Raku method of firing ceramics was used as a generator of chance in producing the unexpected aesthetic of glazes. The result of the experiment is typography with fascinating variety of colours and textures.

Thanks to Tim Waines and Piotr Garstecki for their huge contribution on this piece.

This is my final MArch Architecture project portfolio.

Design Studio 15, Westminster University, 2014.

The Ceramics Quarter project design is inspired by Moroccan arts & crafts, architect’s own explorations of chance through ceramic firing experiments and then directed by answers given by the I Ching.

The new neighbourhood in the medina of Marrakech will provide living and working spaces for local ceramics craftsmen and potters. Ceramic architecture components fired on the site will create an outstanding typology inviting tourists to the north east part of the medina. The proposal also responds to the current urban fabric of Marrakech medina, where poor and rich are often next door neighbours.

University of Westminster Admission 2012

Memories
Growing up in a concrete jungle of social estate blocks in Vilnius (the capital city of post communist Lithuania) seemed natural back then. Being raised in a Lithuanian musical family, attending a Polish school and growing up amongst Russian friends has enabled me to adapt to living in multi-cultural society. I remember days at school as cold; snow was rushing into classrooms through blow holes in walls, students wearing coats and big scarfs around their necks to keep themselves warm. At music school – a teacher always complemented a piano piece with a tissue for a students’ running nose! In contrast, summers were hot in many ways; some of the neighborhood kids kept themselves busy earning money working at construction sites, and some looking for easy targets on the streets… I find these memories extraordinary; it is the reality of what architects should consider for better or for worse when designing spaces, places and cities…

Inspiration
My childhood experience has helped me to successfully design a Youth Centre for Art & Dance in Dalston, Hackney during my final year of architecture degree at University of East London. Coming from a multi-cultural community with similar issues has helped me to understand the needs of Dalston’s youth. When I visited a New Horizon Youth Centre in Camden I met young people from deprived backgrounds who have expressed their appreciation of being able to call the Centre their home. Theirs and my own childhood memories inspired me; I experimented with how those memories could possibly become translated into architectural language and have developed them into the main theme of the design featuring ‘hiding spaces’. At the end of year exhibition I was given the opportunity to produce a mural on 3m x 8m wall, which reflected another of my Youth Centre’s proposed spaces – a very uncommon mural studio. I spent a total of four great years at the University of East London. The challenge of combining independent life, work and studies has been a great motivation towards graduating with a first class degree.

Career
Today, I enjoy working at BDP, a multi-disciplinary practice that fosters socialist ethos of ‘places for people’. I have contributed to a winning submission for a Government Funded Grant for the City College Norwich Creative Arts Hub, which is due to be completed in early 2013. Designed in a new age of austerity, the hub will provide a rich mix of activities for young people in today’s culture of low expectations. In future, I see myself as an architect taking up challenging ideas perhaps through similarly inspiring educational briefs.

Interests 
In preparation for my studies in the UK I spent two years at an art school and a year taking private academic drawing classes of an amazing Lithuanian artist Gediminas Zuklys. At this point I started to think spatially while drawing. I am also a photography enthusiast; my photographs have been exhibited and won prizes! In my spare time I have helped BDP architect director Wayne Head to produce a book ‘Dictionary of Detail’ – a collection of remarkable architectural details to be published by Routledge.

Shaws of Darwen, based in Lancashire, is a manufacturer and retailer of ceramic sinks, also specialising in design, manufacture and restoration of architectural terracotta. The majority of their architectural projects take place in the US, but they have also worked closely with a number of leading architectural practices in the UK. Some most recent projects include: Holburne Museum of Art in Bath, One Eagle Place, Picadilly (both Eric Parry Architects) or Fairytale Cottage in Essex by Grayson Perry and FAT.

I was very fortunate to be able to visit their factory in Darwen and observe closely the craftsmanship and traditional techniques they apply in production of bespoke architectural ceramics. The fascinating experience of the visit was captured through the photographs and I am very excited to be able to share those on my blog.