Cu-Copper
2021
20 × 20 × 10 cm
100% Reclaimed Waste Copper
Enquire →
The Cu-Copper pieces are produced using E-waste and post-demolition waste; anything from electrical cables to circuit boards, from plumbing pipes to laser off-cutts. Assuming the role of novice alchemist, Marlo’s experimental vessels are “grown” molecule by molecule, over several days, in a bath that harvests waste copper while simultaneously growing it into an entirely new form. Rather than ‘electroplating’ onto an existing metal object, a technique used extensively in industries all around the globe, in Cu-Copper the dissolved copper ions are deposited gradually onto a mould. Over time the copper layer becomes thick enough that it can be removed from the mould and stand alone as 100% reclaimed copper pieces. Midway between solid and liquid, the process can be reversed and copper infinitely reclaimed cyclically. The pieces appear to crumble like artifacts from another time. While in our world, depleted ore mines and soaring anticipation for copper in renewable energies means the ‘commodity’ has never been in higher demand, Marlo’s investigations elevate the conversation on copper’s real value to something more that economical - as in fact magical.
Marlo Lyda is an Australian-born designer-maker, and recent graduate from the Design Academy Eindhoven (NL). Her practice embraces fieldwork and intuitive process as means of challenging widely accepted industrial techniques and the by-products of production. Coaxing her delicate and functional objects from materials that are undervalued and disregarded, Marlo believes industry offers a provocative intersection where value can be redefined. Natural phenomena, whether it be elemental or alchemical, inform Marlo’s concepts as well as her production techniques, allowing the properties already present in materials to be simply accentuated or lightly modified.
marlolyda.me
2021
20 × 20 × 10 cm
100% Reclaimed Waste Copper
Enquire →
The Cu-Copper pieces are produced using E-waste and post-demolition waste; anything from electrical cables to circuit boards, from plumbing pipes to laser off-cutts. Assuming the role of novice alchemist, Marlo’s experimental vessels are “grown” molecule by molecule, over several days, in a bath that harvests waste copper while simultaneously growing it into an entirely new form. Rather than ‘electroplating’ onto an existing metal object, a technique used extensively in industries all around the globe, in Cu-Copper the dissolved copper ions are deposited gradually onto a mould. Over time the copper layer becomes thick enough that it can be removed from the mould and stand alone as 100% reclaimed copper pieces. Midway between solid and liquid, the process can be reversed and copper infinitely reclaimed cyclically. The pieces appear to crumble like artifacts from another time. While in our world, depleted ore mines and soaring anticipation for copper in renewable energies means the ‘commodity’ has never been in higher demand, Marlo’s investigations elevate the conversation on copper’s real value to something more that economical - as in fact magical.
Marlo Lyda is an Australian-born designer-maker, and recent graduate from the Design Academy Eindhoven (NL). Her practice embraces fieldwork and intuitive process as means of challenging widely accepted industrial techniques and the by-products of production. Coaxing her delicate and functional objects from materials that are undervalued and disregarded, Marlo believes industry offers a provocative intersection where value can be redefined. Natural phenomena, whether it be elemental or alchemical, inform Marlo’s concepts as well as her production techniques, allowing the properties already present in materials to be simply accentuated or lightly modified.
marlolyda.me