In 1989, Donald Judd—a leading figure within the minimalist art movement—began sketching a series of bowls, plates, and cups while at his home in Marfa, Texas. They were stark and cylindrical, a few featuring a perpendicular plane at a precise 90-degree angle. Yet when he produced the prototypes, they didn’t live up to the austere aesthetic he envisioned. Frustrated, he shelved the designs—and for the next three decades, the papers collected dust in a drawer.
Until now, that is. This month, silverware company Puiforcat has finally realized the late artist’s work, in partnership with the Judd Foundation. Formally titled Dinner Service by Donald Judd, the alliance came about after Puiforcat artistic directors Charlotte Perelman and Alexis Fabray visited Judd’s former New York studio on Spring Street. “We asked if those plates were done in the past,” Perelman says. “When the foundation said no, because Donald Judd couldn’t find the proper manufacturer—we asked, ‘can we give it a try?’”
It took them over four years to meet the rigorous specifications described in Judd’s drawings. They mastered a brazing-molten filler technique so there were no visible welding points, and intensely polished the silver until it had a natural shine akin to Judd’s untitled artworks made from mill aluminum. “It looks simple, but it was extremely hard to make,” says Charlotte. The trickiest part? Making it completely flat with no visible imperfections, which meant keeping the molten silver at the same temperature at all times, as well as the exact malleability required to make perpendicular plates. (“When silver is too soft, you don't control the shape,” explains Perelman.)
While Judd first attempted his dinnerware with stainless steel, both Puiforcat and the artist’s foundation believe that the precious metal’s properties are what made these pieces possible today. “These pieces are clean because by using the silver, which is a craft material, you could make a very sharp design,” she adds.
