These vessels can be used.
For example, as vases, serving plates, or cups.
At the same time, they are also sculptural objects.
They look built rather than shaped.

Their proportions are compressed, stacked, and upright.
Edges, steps, and joints remain visible.
The vessels show how they were made.
But they do not turn this into a dramatic gesture.

The starting point for most works is a set of wooden molds.
They can be seen in showcases 37–38.
Clay is pressed into these molds.
In this way, it first takes on a structure that already exists.
The folding technique works in a similar way.

Other forms are worked with a drill mill before glazing.
So the objects do not begin as completely free forms.
They are made through imprint, pressure, and later reworking.

Before the glaze brings the form together
and the firing fixes it permanently,
a hard and rough basic structure is sought
and treated as something given.

This working method is essential for Menzel.
His personal touch should not appear as a direct expression in the object.
Instead, it is limited, shifted,
and tied to ceramic and sculptural processes.

The mold gives a form.
The tool leaves marks.
These marks resist free modeling.
The glaze reacts to edges, hollows,
and the density of the material.
The firing changes once again
what had already been decided.

Menzel works with these outside influences
instead of hiding them.
The use of color follows the same idea.

In earlier works, wax and paper masks played a bigger role.
The newer vessels are glazed more directly.
Even when several layers are applied,
yellow, red, or white sit on the bodies in solid blocks.

The color does not feel like painting on a surface.
It belongs to the construction of the vessel.
It defines areas
and makes transitions visible.

The simplicity of the glaze
makes the sculptural structure stand out more strongly.
The objects remain close to use.

Opening, base, interior space, and volume all point to the vessel form.
At the same time, this familiarity keeps shifting.

A cup becomes an upright body,
perhaps even a flower cup.
A vase looks like a small tower.
A tray appears as an abstract relief-like form.

The works use familiar ceramic types,
but they do not fully dissolve into them.

Rougher than rough presents ceramics as a medium
in which form-making and loss of control are closely linked.
Menzel uses methods that allow repetition,
while also accepting
that each piece will turn out differently.