"From Trash to Treasure" celebrates the transformative power of upcycling, recycling, and re-use in the collectible design world. In our current culture where environmental consciousness is paramount, five leading artists come together to showcase their innovative and exemplary projects born from the discarded and the overlooked. Studio Furthermore, Alfhild Külper, Cédric Breisacher, Studio Thusthat and Roxane Lahidji breathe new life into forgotten materials each in their own distinct way. From reclaimed wood and discarded fabrics to car wheels, copper slag, sawdust and salt. The exhibition is a testament to the limitless potential of materials and our capacity to reimagine the world around us.
Studio Thusthat: This Is Copper
Slag is a waste byproduct of mining and metallurgy. In the production–and even recycling–of metal, slag is cast aside as a man-made lava in mountainous heaps. Despite being seen as a waste, slag benefits from unique properties, and can be used as an alternative to cement—a ‘geopolymer’–with 80% lower carbon footprint. In this collection, ThusThat has developed a variety of techniques with the scientists of KU Leuven to create monolithic black forms of varying scales.
Cédric Breisacher: Not Wasted
In his new collection, Cedric Breisacher reinvests the use of materials with what a workshop already has: waste materials. He uses this waste to create a material he calls Agglomera, a mixture of wood shavings and starch glue, which he shapes into a sculpted wooden structure. The combination of a massive raw material with an organic material raises questions about the use of our resources, allowing us to reconsider our position in relation to contemporary modes of production and the urgent need to re-localise the production of objects in relation to the territory and our times.
Studio Furthermore: Moon Rock, Mars Editions
Studio Furthermore seeks out new kinds of material and cultural realities informed by processes occurring in nature. Known for innovating material processes as a pathway to creating distinct furniture, lighting and accessories, the studio works with ceramic, cast metal and glass. Their project Moon Rock explores a speculative narrative about how mining in space might solve the resource crisis on Earth. Simultaneously, the project demonstrates a method the studio developed of recycling discarded car wheels into aluminium foam furniture. For the first time Studio Furthermore will present Moon Rock - Mars Editions.
Alfhild Külper: Soft Journeys, a survival story of wool.
For the latest chapter in her design journey, Alfhild exhibits the lifecycle of her main material: wool. Through this projects she aims to show that in a world of fast-fashion, wool - something that is accepted as expendable- can be the protagonist and part of a long lasting object. Her journey starts in Nepal and India where the material is rescued from leftover. In her studio she converts the yarns into colourful tufted and embroidered carpets and tapestries. With the leftover of that process she again creates something new, turing them into felted wall panels.
Roxane Lahidji: Marbled Salts
In ancient times salt was rare and costly. Yet, since the industrial revolution, it has become so cheap and easily available that we no longer recognize its value. Marbled Salts reinvents sea salt in a sustainable design material. By using its unique physical properties and mixing it with tree resin, Marbled Salts results in a white self-binding composite. Herein the material draws a contradictory parallel between the flexible versatility of salt and the physical language of heavy and solid rock. Marbled salts also aim to invite a discussion on the concept of value – essentially a social construct − and the costs the finished product implies.
