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Mono-material designs support circularity. See 7 all-aluminium pieces for inspiration

BOOKMARK ARTICLE

Designs produced with singular materials are often easier to repurpose and recycle. Sticking to one resource doesn't have to be aesthetically or functionally limiting, however: understanding how to make mono-material creations possible can actually boost creativity. Such is the case with this curation of all-aluminium products, including seating, tables, lighting and more. In many cases they are built with recycled material, while also designed to anticipate second-life use.

Photos: Einar Aslaksen
Pieces by (L-R) Inga Sempé, Shane Schneck and Max Lamb are pictured.

CIRCAL 100R

Hydro

During Milan Design Week 2024, Hydro highlighted the potential of transforming aluminium scrap into covetable design objects. Norwegian designer Lars Beller Fjetland, the project’s art director, enlisted seven creatives to craft pieces exclusively from Hydro’s Circal 100R recycled aluminium, which has a record-low carbon footprint of under 0.5 kg CO2e per kg. The material can be endlessly recycled without losing quality, ensuring its continuous use.


SET LAMP

Muuto

Inspired by a screw thread, Jamie Wolfond’s Set Lamp features a body of threaded aluminium. Users can easily and intuitively adjust the lamp’s shade height by rotating it, allowing for personalized illumination. The Muuto lamp’s upward-facing light source, coupled with a reflector shade, offers bright, glare-free illumination for various settings.


HAKO CABINET

Studio 56 Hours

A multifunctional shelving system, the Hako cabinet is the first flatpack mono-material metal furniture from Rotterdam-based studio 56 Hours. Crafted from two six-mm-thick aluminium sheets, the cabinet is assembled with bolts and nuts for easily disassembly, recycling and part replacement if needed. The hangers are also made from the same sheets, maximizing the material use.


STEDELIJK CHAIR

BD Barcelona

Sabine Marcelis’ first chair design, the Stedelijk was commissioned by the Amsterdam museum of the same name, for its renewed entrance area. Produced by BD Barcelona, the 100 per cent aluminium chair is stackable and lightweight, comprising low-carbon metal sourced from Hydro.  


DAL TABLE

Ferm Living

At once a decorative sculpture and functional object, Ferm Living’s Dal table was born from a collaboration with Norwegian artist Anna Maria Øfstedal Eng. Eng reimagined the curvy, rounded forms of a mountainside in Gudbrandsdalen, Norway in recycled casted aluminium for the table, emulating patterns created by erosion.


ONE SIDE SAWN

Studio ThusThat

Showing use possibilities for aluminium offcut ‘crusts’, Studio ThusThat presents One Side Sawn, a collection of furniture and interior objects utilizing the salvage material. The pieces’ jagged, rough edges articulate the industrial casting process, with their backsides showing saw marks from the aluminium being cut, inviting a new understanding of a typically sleek resource.


ART BASEL 2024

Studio Luiz Albisser x Office Luis Bischoff

Studio Luiz Albisser and Office Luis Bischoff joined forces for a collection of modular aluminium furniture that outfitted Art Basel’s public spaces in its latest edition. Conceiving a toolkit of flexible design elements to serve a shop, café, auditorium and more, the designers utilized excess and leftover material from the fair, as well as waste products from local manufacturers, to bring the collection to life. A total of 4,800 kg of aluminium was repurposed.

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