Dezeen Magazine

Studio Furthermore creates ceramic homeware from sponges

London Design Festival 2016: Studio Furthermore injected sponge and foam with porcelain to create this collection of vessels (+ slideshow).

The Tektites collection explores ceramic foams through a range of homeware that is pocked with holes like Swiss cheese.

LDF: Tektites by Studio Furthermore

"Ceramic foams have been used in applications such as mirror mountings on space telescopes as well as the heat shielding that aided NASA's space shuttles to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere," said the studio, which was founded by designers Marina Dragomirova and Iain Howlett.

The pair decided to replicate the ceramic foam production process on a smaller scale, using a bisque porcelain named Parian.

LDF: Tektites by Studio Furthermore

They began by impregnating various kinds of porous foams with the porcelain to see how each behaved.

The pieces were then fired to 1200 degrees Celcius, causing the sponge to fizzle away and leave an identical ceramic form behind.

LDF: Tektites by Studio Furthermore

"The fragments resembled meteorites," said the designers. "To the touch these fragments felt warm, hard and stone-like, but bizarrely they felt near weightless also."

The Tektites collection is on show at the Particle Particular exhibition in Shoreditch until 25 September 2016, as part of this year's London Design Festival.

LDF: Tektites by Studio Furthermore

Also for the festival, architect Asif Khan installed plant-filled pavilions across Shoreditch, while Lee Broom transformed his store into a giant optical illusion.