Carved Cast Iron Incense Burner

Name: Carved Cast Iron Incense Burner
Brand: Faissal El-Malak
Price: 3500 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Unique incense burner in stacked blocks of cast iron with carved design motifs. Entitled “Touqous,” from the Arabic word for rituals, and designed by Faissal El-Malak. This ritualistic piece pays homage to the soap towers of Nablus, Palestine. This structure creates the context for a cleansing ritual inspired by the making and use of traditional olive oil soap in Palestine in addition to other cleansing and spiritual practices. The materiality of iron and the action of pouring liquid and solidifying into a final form inspired the reference to the soap tower structures of Nablus in Palestine. The soap cubes are stamped and arranged in towers to dry for a few weeks in order to be usable. The structure of “Touqous” is now eternally solidified in iron as if perpetually activating its power. With soap, the material is melted once again in order to cleanse a body. This association between dematerialising and cleansing is replaced in this petrified version by a more ethereal interpretation. The structure acts as an incense burner where smoke permeates the space between the cubes. Incense smoke has been used for thousands of years as a vector to connect with the divine. The cubes are covered in a relief of talismans meant to heighten different senses and emotions related to a human body. The talismans are activated by the smoke and release their power to fill the surrounding spaces and people with their medicinal effects. This piece was originally commissioned for a 2021 exhibition entitled 'Cast Iron', in which eight artists from around the world were tasked with digitally designing exclusive editions of furniture, lighting or functional decorative objects, which the gallery would then facilitate production of, with the help of a fourth generation foundry in Virginia. Each of the digital pieces would be materialized in cast iron, the quintessential symbol of the 19th century. The focus of the exhibition was to marry the material’s origins with the new-age digital hyper-connectivity of design ideas. About the Artist: Faissal El-Malak is a Palestinian designer who was born in 1988 and brought up between Montreal Canada and Doha Qatar. He trained as a fashion designer in Paris’s Atelier Chardon Savard and recently moved back to the Gulf, finally settling in Dubai in September 2014. El-Malak has been working on developing his contemporary Middle Eastern design identity by bridging traditional artisan work with modern design. Previously, he has been invited to show his fashion collection at the Casablanca Festimode fashion week in Morocco and the Carthage Design and Fashion festival in Tunisia (2010). El-Malak launched his eponymous brand a year later at the Tranoi show in Paris with a collection centred around cut and sewn luxury made in France tights and leggings. El-Malak will be showcasing his relaunch collection of womenswear at Harvey Nichols Dubai in June 2015. He was one of the finalist of the first Dubai edition of Vogue Italia, "Who is on next" competition in October 2015.

Creator:

Faissal El-Malak (Designer)

Dimensions:

Height: 9 in (22.86 cm)Diameter: 11 in (27.94 cm)

Materials and Techniques:

Iron,Carved,Cast

Place of Origin:

United States

Period:

21st Century

Date of Manufacture:

2021