Speaking the Language of the Soul

Originally designed for the Ritual of The Way of Wine, the Vascellum is for the Wine Master the essential piece in the practice of his art. Unusual objet d’art for some, marvelous tool for others, the nature of the Vascellum fascinates. Let its creator share his views about it:

"To assert that the technical sophistication of the Vascellum makes it the most advanced object ever created for serving and decanting wine would certainly be presumptuous, and possibly incorrect, as I am not familiar with all objects dedicated to wine service... However, that aspect is trivial to me, for while the Vascellum is necessary to me, it is not, in my eyes, a utilitarian object, any more than it is a piece of art. It is an object of the sacred for a sacred moment.

I also view it as a symbol of resistance. That of an entity in opposition to the dominant production currents of our time, where the manufactured object no longer connects with the individual, with our inner selves... From smartphones to cars to can openers, we are surrounded by objects of impeccable aesthetics and ingenious design, yet while they entice our senses, they remain mute to our souls. To grasp this, think of the difference between the bay window of a building and Chartres' stained-glass windows. If the sun shines through both, through the glass of the building, it illuminates us, whereas through that of the cathedral, it speaks to us...".

The Vascellum anatomy entices the eye to open and surrender in an embrace of its contours. Its centre, suspended in emptiness, disrupts the eye’s habitual references, inviting the observer into an acentric mode of perception conducive to contemplative detachment. It is an invitation to still the mind, to step out of the agitation of thought to view with eyes of the soul.

Upper photo: meditation on the Vascellum, The Way of Wine notebooks, Thierry Forbois, May 2012.

Ceremonial Art Pieces

Since the beginning of the Way of Wine, Thierry Forbois will have imagined several declinations of the Vascellum, here we introduce you three of them: Infinite, Purity and Terrae.

Between the infinitely vast and the infinitely small, between the abyss of a hundred billion galaxies and the elemental particles of the quantum universe, a few rare planets bathe in the nurturing warmth of a star. Heavenly oases, little paradises where matter takes strange forms: all of them perishable, or, to put it another way, alive. Limited life forms exist on them, lacking intelligence (blue algae, Drosophila or the common fruit fly, alligators, bureaucrats), but alongside them are more unusual beings, as anguished as they are amazed to learn who they are. We are these beings. Only in humans do these two infinitudes meet. We are miracles standing on this Earth, living on love, beauty and wine, and in the boundless joy of being aware of it.
In its body, the Infinite Vascellum speaks to us, it invites us to commune with the Mystery of the Universe, to dive into the boundlessness of space and the invisible of matter. You will feel this cosmic thrill as you lose yourself in the interstellar bluish black of its lacquer, a deep mirror exalting the reflections of the world that surrounds it. You will also feel it in the night of its ebony wood, with its pale veins like a galaxy's starry arms. Representing the elusive world of the infinitely small, you will discover strange stigmata carved into the layers of his lacquer. A work that Forbois drew with charcoal on the concrete floor of his studio, in a state of trance, a hallucinated vision of traces left by subatomic particles in the bubble chambers, the ancestor of modern particle accelerator.
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Dimensions of the piece:
40 x 85 x 34 cm (W/H/D).
Weight: 22 kg (48,5 lb)

On its refined lines, as the result of a resolute complexity, the hand wanders. Disturbed by the floral sensuality of its translucent organ, it glides over the shimmering curves of its Cuban mahogany pillars, before touching the fine amber veins of its ebony wood, while the eye, incredulous and fascinated, gets lost in the orient of its pearly dress where the world is drawn in dreamy reflections. Finally, lingering in the intimacy of her body, behind the bluish dawn of her crystal veil, the eye guesses her high precision mechanics, the movement of her heart.
While each detail reminds us of the harmony of the whole, Purity seems to transform itself as the eye explores it, as if a plurality of worlds coexisted in its moving forms.
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Dimensions of the piece:
40 x 85 x 34 cm (W/H/D).
Weight: 22 kg (48,5 lb)

Black as the soil, the oak blends with the antique bronze to give body to a work whose curves are cut with facets like a diamond, or left freely to the line of their curve. In this game of angles and curves, of projections and hollows, the Vascellum Terrae gives itself to the day that comes and goes, penetrates it and envelops it all at once. In the instant of the brightness which reveals it, the feminine and masculine become one.
Terra. The earth. Earth in which precious stones are formed, in the depths of its mantle where extreme pressure and heat act on the carbon atoms that bind into the three-dimensional structure of rough diamonds. As in ourselves, in the depths of our being, there are hidden gems that the forces and elements of life, our joys as well as our misfortunes, have created over time. Sometimes, we feel them as stones, dark and useless, or even, undesirable..., but they are inner treasures that make our strength, our wealth, our beauty. It is on the surface, in our eyes, that we see them shine.
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Dimensions of the piece:
40 x 90x 34 cm (W/H/D).
Weight: 25 kg (55 lb)

Requiring over 750 hours of savoir-faire and passion to be crafted, each Vascellum is entirely realized in Renart's atelier near Montreal, in Canada, by a team of gifted artisans who work like master poets to rekindle the stars.

www.renart.space