Saucer from Maxim’s de Paris
A porcelain plate repaired with steel staples and epoxy glue
Owners: Andrew and Karen Birkin
Repaired by: STUDIO DAM in Singapore, 2022
This saucer is part of a monogrammed dinner service produced by Maison Haviland for the famous restaurant Maxim’s de Paris. It was pinched in 1975 by actress and singer Jane Birkin for her brother Andrew, who submitted the piece for repair with his wife Karen.
Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg in the kitchen in Normandy, 1979. Photo by Andrew Birkin. All Rights reserved.
Story
Andrew recalled the night the plate was broken: "Jane secreted a few pieces of crockery into her voluminous basket. As we were leaving Maxim’s, bleary-eyed in the new year’s dawn, someone stopped her for an autograph. Jane put down her top-heavy wicker basket, whereupon it capsized, and to her toe-curling embarrassment, out rolled a dozen saucers and plates across the dining-room floor. The head waiter nonchalantly gathered them up and handed them back to Jane. “A gift from Maxim’s. If you require more, you only have to ask.” Such is fame.”
Repair
When asked how far multidisciplinary design agency STUDIO DAM could go with their repair, Andrew responded they could make a spaceship out of it. The repair is inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey, which Andrew Birkin worked on early in his career. This is STUDIO DAM’s take on Juci - 锔瓷, a Chinese porcelain repair technique centred around the use of metal staples.
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