Unique piece
Welissa
Bulk carrier, solid dry bulk transport
The flagship of the fleet. A blue hull eaten by rust, yellow cargo masts, a deck crowded with detail. Welissa follows no existing ship: it is a creation born from hundreds of photographs of a real cargo vessel. Around 380 hours of work.
Specifications
- Type
- Bulk carrier, solid dry bulk transport
- Dimensions
- L 1,96 m × l 0,28 m × H 0,65 m
- Materials
- Wood, resin-charged plaster, brass
- Patina
- Inspired by the Rio Tagus, a cargo ship laid up for fifteen years in Sète harbour
- Origin of the form
- After a 1955 plan from the Tunisian company COTUNAV, modified
- Created
- 2018
- Work
- 380 hours
- Edition
- Signed, one of a kind
The story of the work
Welissa, patience
Welissa is the short form of the Cameroonian word Welissane, meaning “patience”. It is also the name of Olivier Maynard’s eldest daughter.
Lacking plans of the Rio Tagus, the cargo ship abandoned for fifteen years in the port of Sète, the artist, a professional photographer, captured a wealth of details, analysed them, then adapted them to a 1955 cargo plan from the Tunisian company COTUNAV. The result corresponds to no existing vessel: it is a strictly unique, signed work.
The superstructure and hull are in resin-charged plaster; the decks, cargo masts and details are in wood and brass. The display base and its legs are a nod to the architect of the same era, Jean Prouvé.