back to News/Blog

From thorns to flowers

© Stephan Winkler

Clay, not shards: How Stephan Winkler created the animation that makes Europe nicer.

© Stephan Winkler

In the beginning was the kneading: Founding member Stephan Winkler produced a small piece of art for us that conveys the goals of European Utopia e.V. in less than five seconds. “I wanted to show how baked clay blossoms into life against all odds,” says the full-time illustrator and animation designer.

Stephan first formed small sculptures out of clay for his composition: spikes of thorns that grow larger, then break open and turn into flowers. Each of the seven thorns transforms in eight steps, resulting in a total of 56 objects that were fired in the kiln. Stephan then photographed the objects individually in order to process the images into a stop-motion film. On the computer, he arranged the motifs one after the other, interpolated intermediate stages and finally drew in tendrils.

© Stephan Winkler

The animation seems uninviting at a first glance: two crossed branches block the way like barbed wire at the EU’s external border. But the rigidity breaks open and in the end something beautiful, friendly, diverse blossoms - that is utopia.

back to News/Blog