Extruded Bright Blue Vases

For this year's Milan design week, designer Anton Alvarez paid tribute to Yves Klein in his 'Yves Kiln' project. The designer created a series of 12 vases using his unique clay extrusion process, and the sculptural pieces were covered in a deep, vibrant blue that has been one of Klein's favored hues since it was first mixed in the 60s.

The 12 extruded vases come in bizarre and captivating shapes, but Alvarez is quick to note that extrusion is far from a new process in ceramics. That said, the purpose-built extruder that Alvarez crafted is unusual because of its scale: the three-tonne ceramic press pushes far more clay than the average machine.

Though the vases are all covered in International Klein Blue, as the color is known, that wasn't the plan from the outset. Rather, the color happened to "work well technically in terms of the firing process", says Alvarez, and its pleasing tone is a happy side-effect.