Minealloop

2022

2022 crQlr awards - Investigative Materials Prize
2022 Exhibited in Object Rotterdam

Introduction

Fixing minerals with minerals

A collection of a series of homeware made with discarded materials and objects from The Hague, Netherland. Many products in second-hand shops are not sold and are then sent to the incinerator, so Erco Lai decided to give a new life to glass and ceramic products by developing new coatings made with waste minerals from The Hague.

But what should be designed for a world of plenty? Natural resources are getting exhausted, so Erco Lai believes in alternative ways of designing, using what is already there. The response to our current context is a local and circular production.

Objects

Colleciton 2022

Process

Neo Craft

Based on the research of Neo Stone Age , Erco Lai developed a new technique repairing broken glassware or ceramic with “Neostone”. From this new “kintsugi” craft, it gives those unwanted homewares a mineral coating. Erco Lai covered broken/imperfect glassware with "Neostone" developed using discarded lime pellet, powder of limestone from quarries or sand from construction sites, also known as geo-polymer, this material doesn’t require firing and adds a new touch and feeling to the object.

Exhibitions

2022 Object Rotterdam

Further reading

Neo Stone Age - Design research of Neostone