Urbans. In the Nebylitskoye-Dalnee estate
DirtyHands, studio of Art Ceramics Karen Yuzbashyan and Elizabeth Martirosyan
Interior toys Ceramics «Urbans. In the Nebylitskoye-Dalnee estate»
Urbans are ceramic heroes, funny characters with their own personalities, stories, and relationships. The new series of 2024 is dedicated to the life of the Urbans in a Russian estate, where each of the 10 heroes has their own role and special place.
Urbans could be interior toys, continuing the legacy of clay arts and crafts (Dymkovo toys, in particular) in a modern design.
In 2021, the characters from the first series of Urbans were selected by an expert jury for exhibition at Venice Design Week.
Handmade Height: from 160 mm to 400 mm Width: from 70 mm to 150 mm
The owner of the Nebylitskoye-Dalnee estate is the old landowner Nebylitsky. Grumpy and wayward. Widower. He lives in an echo of the past, increasingly moving away from reality. He also remembers Napoleon (he lost his arm in the war), wears a gray wartime frock coat and a tattered cocked hat.
The landowner’s daughter is Madame Broshkina. Exaggeratedly sophisticated and cutesy. She was raised by a French governess. She returns from Paris, where she trained for several years with the best milliners. He brings European ideas and styles to his estate. And also her future husband, Monsieur Jacques, whom she met in France.
Monsieur Jacques in the astrakhan hat turned out to be a former Yashka and a current successful Russian merchant. In Paris he became related with a new elegant name and dreams of becoming related to Madame Broshkina.
The infirmity and slight insanity of the Landowner allowed Urban the Clerk to become the real owner of the estate and secretly manage everything and everyone. Straightforward, like his posture, arrogant and proud. He wears a hat with earflaps and the owner’s sheepskin coat with a large shawl collar. Forces his unlucky underage son Fedka to be his spy.
Fedka the informer. Small and remote. Runs quickly, hides unnoticed, sneaks up silently. So Urban the Clerk has eyes and ears everywhere. Fedka goes to a parish school.
There was once a serf theater in the Nebylitskoye-Dalneye estate. The championship belonged to Urban Petrushka. The troupe has long since collapsed, the suit and stupid cap have long worn out, but Petrushka’s habit of being a buffoon remains. Not young for a long time and no longer funny. Sings obscene ditties and dances to the tune of the old Landowner.
The young and efficient Urban Dvorovy does all the dirty work on the estate. Although he lives not in a human outbuilding, but in the corner of a warm manor house. Rumor has it that he is the illegitimate son of the Old Landowner. He is friends with Petrushka and sometimes even goes to parish school.
Urban Governor General. The largest and most prominent. His rare visits to Nebylitskoye-Dalneye are always rich feasts, buffoonish entertainment, ingratiation and a lot of noise.
The parochial school is headed by Urban Markhangelsky, who is fat and buttery like a pancake. He monitors the piety of his flock and does not eat more than five times a day during Lent.
But it is not only through the prayers of the local priest that the estate prospers. The locals sincerely believe that the wings of the Guardian Angel are spread over their estate «Nebliskoye-Dalneye».
The Urbans were kind, ironic and very charming. The characters are fictitious and have no real prototypes, all similarities are random.
