Apparatu and Studio Furthermore explore materials in unique ways: one using composite, the other volcanic ash.
On the Kitchen Table
Xavier Mañosa is founder of Apparatu, a design and ceramics studio based in Barcelona. Working with Spanish surfacing company Cosentino, he handcrafted an entire kitchen – complete with appliances, hardware and tableware – in Dekton XG loss Spectra, a glass, porcelain and quartz composite created with exclusive particle-sintering technology.
The luminous black installation, called Dektonclay, is the culmination of three years’ study of the material’s malleability through modelling, pressing, extruding and firing. It was unveiled at a champagne-and-tapas evening hosted by manufacturer Cosentino at its Clerkenwell flagship.
The Look of Lava
Marina Dragomirova and Iain Howlett of London’s Studio Furthermore studied volcanic debris around Iceland while developing their “lost foam” process.
To create the look of cooled lava, they crafted vessel moulds from sponge, then entombed them in sand before saturating them with molten alloys or a liquid clay called parian. The heat from the kiln vaporizes the original foam, leaving behind the collection’s titular Replica pieces the firm showed in a converted South Kensington stable.
This story was taken from the January / February 2018 issue of Azure. Buy a copy of the issue here, or subscribe here.
