Ceramic wares are one of the most ancient inventions by human beings. Clay pots and utensils are a part of the household in many parts of the world even today. From crockery to tiny showpieces, your decorative tableware is incomplete without ceramic wares for sure!
As centuries passed, the procedure of making ceramic wares has seen a revolution. the procedure of making ceramic wares have seen a revolution. From hand-crafting ceramic wares with a pottery wheel to setting up a factory to produce the decorative vessels through a machine, ceramic wares have come a long way.
Out of all the creative ways possible, the last way one would ever think about is making ceramic vessels with human urine! Isn’t it?
But thanks to Sinae Kim, But Sinae Kim, a graduate from Central Saint Martins in London brought the most out-of-the-box idea to life! Kim has created a collection of decorative ceramics using human urine.
The collection called ‘Urine Ware’ flaunts a series of ceramic vessels inspired by the shape of the human bladder and laboratory flasks. The USP of the collection is that all the decorative vessels in the series were glazed using human urine.
Human urine which is otherwise considered as a waste product was used instead of metal oxide to add glaze to the ceramic wares, reports De Zeen.
“This project is an experimental journey, exploring the value of urine, and presenting a potential new role in this society,” said Kim.
“Throughout the research, I found out, unlike the common belief shared in modern society, urine was widely used for many purposes in pre-industrial society, such as planting, cleansing, therapeutic medicine, whitening teeth, and tanning leather,” she further said.
250 liters of urine was collected over a time of five months from five people. It was then distilled to form a dark orange brown colored paste.
“The minerals in urine can play the same role as glaze or clay since they have common minerals such as Iron, Calcium, Sodium, Potassium and Magnesium,” said Kim.
Once the items were crafted out of clay, Kim coated them with the urine residue. The coat helped in lowering the melting point of silica in clay. When subjected to heat, silica merged with the minerals in the urine and created a glossy coating.
“Human urine is an absolutely promising material in the future where an enormous amount of urine is produced by a rapidly growing population,” Kim said.
“The common minerals also survive and remain in a crystal form under high temperature, so they have the potential to be used for creating objects like vessels,” she added.
Would you like ceramic wares made of human urine as a part of your beautiful dinner crockery? If not for tableware, these Urine Wares can certainly be used as decorative pieces to add to the beauty of your living room, right?