Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Amsterdam-based Studio ThusThat launches a furniture collection made of factory scraps and sheets of salvaged aluminum sourced from a smelter.
“In the preparation of the blocks to be sent to other factories, the sides are cut off, leaving behind thin rough plates–known as “crusts”,” explains Studio ThusThat.
“In a continuation of our exploration of industrial narratives, we use these crusts to create interior objects that reflect the unexpectedly raw backstory to an everyday material – aluminum.”
Νamed One Side Sawn, the collection features flat-pack tables, shelves, cabinets, mirrors, and desk accessories crafted from a byproduct of the initial stages of aluminum production, during which large blocks of the metal are formed in a smelter.
The design of the collection emerged from the designers’ challenges in cutting the material in a manner that minimized waste.
The team has wondered if it would be possible to utilize the same principle of reusing offcuts in the designs themselves, whereby the cut of one object informed the next object’s form, and ultimately the entirety of a sheet is used.
The result is a large ad-hoc puzzle of jagged cuts and an unusual composition of pieces that echo the brute and raw production of aluminum, a metal everyone takes for granted as pristine.
The pieces are designed to be easily packed, assembled, disassembled, and recycled.
Project: One Side Down Collection
Designers: Studio ThusThat
Manufacturer: Studio ThusThat
