SOPHIE HICKS LIMITED ARCHITECTS, London ¦ Design - The Royal Academy of Arts Exhibition Design PICASSO PAINTER AND SCULPTOR IN CLAY

We worked with the curators at the Royal Academy of Arts to design the setting and plan the installation of this exhibition of Picasso's ceramics. It was important to have a light touch and to enhance the spirit of playfulness and experimentation in which the pieces were created: Picasso made the sculptural pots and plates during his summer holidays between 1946 and the 1960's and his studio was the local pottery at Vallauris in the South of France.

Picasso created them fast and freely and you can clearly see the way he manipulated and marked the clay . We displayed the ceramics on concrete plinths which were cast in moulds and used unfinished to ensure that only the touch of Picasso was present. The pots were mainly on open display but where works had to be covered for security reasons, large acrylic boxes were mechanically fixed over them. The galleries were predominately lit with daylight, which was boosted with fluorescent striplights such as you might find in a workshop.