Smoke Like a Chimney is one of those one in a million ideas that inspire me to practice design. It’s a high concept ashtray made in white porcelain. Here’s the concept: the ashtray has a cover over where the cigarette is placed. This cover is an abstracted version of a human lung. When the cigarette is placed in the ashtray smoke rises up and pours out of the end of the abstracted lung tubes always reminding the user of just how much smoke is rising through his or her lungs. So the piece really succeeds on several levels. Not only is at beautiful piece of porcelain showing strong technical prowess, but it’s also an affective demonstration of the beauty of smoke…or the perils of smoking.
Unfortunately, the piece is hard to find in the U.S., at least.
