joana vasconcelos bakes three

Oct 04, 2023

Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos imagines a giant wedding cake served at ceremonies as a garden sculpture and public art baked with ceramic tiles and architected in three tiers. Rothschild Foundation has commissioned the artist to design the cotton candy-colored part-sculpture, part-architecture dessert at the Waddesdon Manor in the UK.

The inedible cake reaches 12 meters high with expressive details that mirror the icing, sprinkles, and toppers dressing up wedding cakes. Vasconcelos’ Wedding Cake looms over the expansive British garden with its enormous, fully immersive, and alluring sculpture that combines pâtisserie and architecture.

The grand display is slated to patch 25,150 Viúva Lamego ceramic tiles of 99 different types and 1,238 Viúva Lamego ceramic pieces of 52 different types, and whimsical adornments such as mermaids, dolphins, candles, and globes are poised to envelop the three-tier wedding cake.

images courtesy of Atelier Joana Vasconcelos and Waddesdon Manor | image and header © Atelier Joana Vasconcelos

Showered with icing-like ornaments both in and out, the rich sensory experience it brings — glazed in pale pinks, greens, and blues — is heightened with the sounds of trickling water and a site-specific lighting scheme. Wedding Cake is Vasconcelos’ most ambitious commission to date, which she describes as ‘a temple of love.’

Looking at its delectable ceramic-based glazing, the themes of festivity and marriage are regally celebrated. Prompted by the relationship between collector Lord Jacob Rothschild and Vasconcelos, the Wedding Cake is almost five years in the making and is soon to be unveiled at the Waddesdon Manor on June 8th, 2023.

Wedding Cake 3D rendering image © Atelier Joana Vasconcelos

Joana Vasconcelos’ Wedding Cake grandly puts wedding and ceremonial cake traditions into play, whipped with the profound history of the manor. Inspired by the exuberant Baroque buildings and highly decorative ceramic traditions of Lisbon where the artist lives and works, the three-tier wedding cake responds to the great Rothschild traditions of hospitality with echoes of 18th-century garden pavilions.

The Wedding Cake will stand in a grove of trees opposite the 19th-century Dairy, which was designed by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild to entertain his guests at his home parties. The sculpture-architecture may remind visitors of the European tradition of erecting elaborate structures amid gardens and landscapes.

The cake also forms part of Lord Rothschild's increasing collection of modern and historic sculptures. The Dairy is still considered as a popular gathering place today, and the entrance of the Wedding Cake, metaphorically expressing its symbol of love and happiness, poses as The Dairy's ideal match.

image © Atelier Joana Vasconcelos

Joana Vasconcelos says that an enormous undertaking such as her wedding cake could only happen with the vision and encouragement provided by a generous patron such as Lord Rothschild. ‘He could see its dreamlike potential, believe in it and provide the means to make it come true. I have been addressing the subject of love through my career for almost 30 years now, but this is my biggest challenge so far,’ she says.

The artist adds that many artists have impossible projects under their belt, and for her, the sculptural and architectural cake is the one she can call hers. ‘I wanted people to have three different approaches to it: looking from the outside, enjoying the surroundings from the different levels or balconies and rising to the top, finally completing the artwork with their presence. Above all, I always thought of it as a temple to love,’ she says.

image © Atelier Joana Vasconcelos