These Insanely Detailed "Porcelain" Vases Are Actually Made Of Soap

Experience Meekyoung Shin's perfectly rendered copies of ancient porcelain and busts in person and you'll detect a waft of fragrance emanating from them. Inspect more closely (not too closely, of course), and your inklings will be confirmed. These sculptures smell.

The scent can be sourced to Shin's sculpting material. Despite appearances––the craftsmanship is immaculate, enduring––the Korean artist works not with stone, but with soap. "It has a similar density or texture to stone," Shin tells Co.Design, describing why the medium isn't an altogether crazy substitute for, say, marble or granite (materials found elsewhere in bathrooms?).

Her latest exhibition, "Archetype," at the Sumarria Lunn Gallery in London, offers a smattering of objects that back up her claim. The forms––based on Chinese vases, Hellenic peoploids, and most recently Renaissance canvases––are sensitively sculpted, with a precision associated with age–old, rock–solid materials.

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