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Ceramic pieces submerged in the ocean to create marine life art

For their series Intertidal Deployment Objects, creative duo Trygve Faste and Jessica Swanson – otherwise known as Something Like This Design – love to create ceramic pieces that are submerged in the ocean to allow barnacles, mussels, and other marine life to attach to their surfaces.

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Via Creative Boom submission. All images courtesy of the artists

Via Creative Boom submission. All images courtesy of the artists

The pair explained: "Though typically seen as fouling organisms by people who work in the marine environment, we find barnacles and other sea life to be beautiful and hope that their inclusion in the work will raise awareness of the many industrious organisms that can contribute to the generation of designed work.”

Trygve has an MFA in painting from Cranbrook Academy of Art where he was later an interim Artist in Residence running the MFA painting program in 2005. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Product Design Program at the University of Oregon. Jessica has an MFA in sculpture from the Art Institute of Chicago and has taught at many colleges and universities in Washington, Oregon and California. Their goal is to create thoughtful functional designs that stem from their interest in the nexus of design and studio art.

Discover more on their website at www.somethinglikethisdesign.com.

Ceramic pear-shaped sculpture in muted tones with a rope handle, its surface encrusted with barnacles and marine growth from ocean submersion
Ceramic vessel with cream and coral-coloured body and rope handles, topped with a potted succulent encrusted with barnacles and marine growth
Ceramic buoy with a cream and coral-coloured body and rope handle, its top encrusted with barnacles and marine growth
Ceramic bell with rope attachment sitting on a pink bowl base encrusted with sand and marine organisms
White ceramic vessel with handles and a textured pink and beige pompom-like top, designed for marine life colonisation by Something Like This Design
Red ceramic sphere encrusted with pale barnacles and mussels, suspended from a white rope against a light background
Ceramic sculptural pendant with a grey top section, black middle band studded with small white circles, and gradient pink-to-purple lower section, encrusted with barnacles and other marine organisms
Ceramic sculptural object with layered pink, gold and grey sections, topped with a grey dome and rope attachment, designed for ocean submersion to collect marine life
Ceramic vessel with two rope handles and textured surface colonised by barnacles and other marine organisms, before submersion in the ocean
Turquoise and pink ceramic vessel with rope handles, showing weathered surfaces where marine organisms have begun to colonise it
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