Cake for Biodiversity

Furniture element for different species

The sculpture Cake for Biodiversity is made up of a long tree trunk, the ‘cake’, which has a colourful ‘topping’ of ceramics. This object aims to provide a habitat for a hundred different organisms. Of these, 99 species such as wasps, bees, beetles, birds, caterpillars, and fungi can find food or shelter inside or on the tree trunk. The hundredth species, humankind, is given a layer of its own on top of the wood.

Client: self initiated
Date: 30 June 2021
Project type: Furniture piece
Facilitated by: Residency at Sundaymorning@ekwc
Materials: Stoneware (coloured clay and Sinter engobe). Oak tree trunk.
Size: 330 x 55 x 75 cm

Ecological habitats

Can dead wood form the foundation for rich urban habitats, which attracts both humans and insect species simultaneously?

A new way of coexistence

These Habitat Elements are functional sculptures to ‘live’ in or on. They are supposed to attract the human eye and function as attrative objects for biodiversity. The furniture piece promotes an integrated society where humans can watch, listen and learn from “nature” without disturbing the habitat of other species.

Two different themes

The family consists out of two characters. One bench is designed to blend in with nature in springtime, and has a green, brownish color, with some glossy spots that reflect the sunlight. This one has a glazing of sinter engobes with oxide pigments. The other one is developed with an urban environment in mind, and resembles an appetising glossy icing on the Cake of Biodiversity. This piece is made out of pink coloured clay, with a transparent glossy glaze.

In the landscape

Design process

To create these furniture pieces Mirte participated in the residency programme of Sundaymorning@ekwc, a centre-of-excellence for ceramics in Oisterwijk, the Netherlands. Here the shapes where hand build, and then reproduced by press in molds from plaster and wood.