Designer Tom Pearson has created industrial furniture pieces with rivets that are both structural and decorative for the 10,000 Rivets collection, on show during London Design Festival.
The line, which is Tom Pearson Studio's debut furniture and lighting collection, is on show at London's APOC store, where the aluminium pieces function as display cases and tables for contemporary fashion.
Pearson, who previously co-founded and co-ran the fabrication workshop Jamps Studio, turned his focus to the modest industrial fixing for 10,000 Rivets.
He also explored different ways to create surface designs on the aluminium sheets through anodising – a process that changes the metal's structure near its surface and creates a water-resistant layer.
"The works came from wanting to further my experiments with anodising," Pearson told Dezeen. "The forms are driven by the constraints of the anodising process."
"The acid tanks I have can only accommodate a certain sheet size, and welding anodised aluminium is feasible but messy, hence the riveted construction," he continued.
"I think it's nicer to be led by chance and play than starting with an overarching 'concept'."
The designer started to play around with the anodising process because of the difficulties in finishing aluminium designs.
"Anyone who has worked with aluminium knows how much of a nightmare finishing is – you look away, and it's covered in fingerprints," he said.
"Anodising is the solution, but it's hard to find a supplier who is happy for you to experiment in the corner," Pearson continued.
"I started anodising parts myself because I wanted to apply the dyes by hand with brushes without aiming for the usual uniform flat colour."
While Pearson uses a traditional set-up for anodising aluminium, he experimented with different ways of applying dye to the material, using brushes, airbrushes and pipettes.
The resulting patterns look like water droplets, creating a surface design that is both unusual and decorative.
"My setup is no different to the usual process, involving acid and boiling water; I am just treating it as a decorative patina embracing all the unpredictability of the process," Pearson said.
Pearson's aluminium pieces, which have angular, geometric shapes, are held together by rivets that run along their seams.
This creates a look that makes some of the shelving seem as if it's floating, and gives the shelves, tables, accessories and lighting designs sculptural patterned edges.
While the pieces on show feature thousands of rivets, they do not quite make it to the number in the exhibition's name.
"There are technically 6,264 rivets in the works," Pearson said. "I ordered 10,000. Who knows where the rest have gone!"
Other London Design Festival projects on Dezeen include Studio Iron's show featuring chainmail, cowhide and tattooed leather and an exhibition designed as a fictional 1930s hotel suite.
The collection was produced by design consultancy Heavy Duty Services. The photography is by Studio Adamson.
10,000 Rivets is on show at APOC, 8 Andrews Rd, London, E8 4QN, from 12 to 20 September as part of London Design Festival. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.