Our Approach
As graduates of the Royal College of Art (MA) and Imperial College London (MSc), our work with overlooked materials involves moving between scientific research, industrial practices, and making. We hope that this approach results in a body of design work that is intellectually engaging, aesthetically rich, and ultimately communicates to a wider audiences. ThusThat aims to unearth the material backstories of our everyday surroundings. Our work primarily focuses on the use of uncommon materials such as industrial wastes, to suggest alternative possibilities.
This Is Copper Collection
Copper is ubiquitous to our modern world, yet it is largely invisible. It is the first metal used by humankind, and it is crucial for a renewable future: a wind turbine alone can contain up to five tonnes of copper, and ten tonnes of the metal are needed per kilometre of high-speed railway.
But what exactly is copper? The metal we know is only part of a much wider material story. Mining overburden, tailings, metal concentrates, rare metals like gold and silver, sulfuric acid, sulphate solution, slag, and more.
All of this is copper, or in other words is a direct result of processing, using, and recycling copper. This project exposes and proposes potential uses for some of these overlooked byproducts as the search for evermore copper continues.
