![Ceramic collection by Sam Baron and Yatzer for Mateus](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2018/08/ceramic-collection-by-sam-baron-and-yatzer-for-mateus-product-homeware-design_dezeen_hero-2-852x480.jpg)
Sam Baron and Yatzer look back to "humankind's earliest ceramics" for Mateus
Sam Baron and Costas Voyatzis, founder of Yatzer, have created a collection of irregular, handmade and hand-painted ceramics for Swedish design company Mateus.
The collection is a collaboration between French designer Baron and Voyatzis, founder of Yatzer, an online platform celebrating fine and applied art. It will be launched at this September's Maison & Objet to mark Mateus's 25th anniversary.
![Ceramic collection by Sam Baron and Yatzer for Mateus](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2018/08/ceramic-collection-by-sam-baron-and-yatzer-for-mateus-product-homeware-design_dezeen_1704_col_3-852x639.jpg)
Named Mateus meets Sam Baron meets Yatzer, all the ceramic pieces in the collection are handmade and hand-painted, using a palette of subtle neutral colours and a clean design language.
"Conceived as a tribute to the company's origins, as well as an homage to pottery, the collection's clean lines and stylistically pure design language draws from both the pre-historic and the modernist principles of form follows function to create a line of timeless, elemental objects," said Mateus.
![Ceramic collection by Sam Baron and Yatzer for Mateus](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2018/08/ceramic-collection-by-sam-baron-and-yatzer-for-mateus-product-homeware-design_dezeen_1704_col_2-852x1136.jpg)
The collection consists of four basic forms – a plate, a bowl, a vase and a cup – that come in various sizes and colours, based on a palette of earthy colours found in nature and with an unglazed, uneven finish.
"We went back to humankind's earliest ceramics by designing humble and simple containers for food with a singular presence in their users' daily lives," said Baron and Voyatzis. "Their irregular but geometric shapes and subtle tones mean they used for different occasions or even as decorative pieces."
![Ceramic collection by Sam Baron and Yatzer for Mateus](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2018/08/ceramic-collection-by-sam-baron-and-yatzer-for-mateus-product-homeware-design_dezeen_1704_col_12-852x629.jpg)
The toned-down palette allows the pieces to be easily mixed and matched, both within the collection and with Mateus' previous products.
Mateus is known for creating hand-painted ceramics with vibrant colours and decorative patterns. This muted collection presents a different approach for the brand and is a nod to the oldest methods of crafting ceramics.
"We wanted the new collection to embody Mateus' soul rather than its looks," said Voyatzis.
![Ceramic collection by Sam Baron and Yatzer for Mateus](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2018/08/ceramic-collection-by-sam-baron-and-yatzer-for-mateus-product-homeware-design_dezeen_hero-2-852x480.jpg)
This is Baron and Voyatzis' second collaboration – the first was for a Yatzer pop-up shop in Milan in 2016. The new collection, Mateus meets Sam Baron meets Yatzer, will be on show at Maison & Objet 2018's September edition in Paris.
Also recently, Danish designers Frederik Nystrup-Larsen and Oliver Sundquist created a series of knobbly concrete vases that looks like lava rocks for the new home of prolific Copenhagen restaurant Noma.