One man's trash...

E15 have long been fans of reusing offcuts, their iconic Backenzahn is made using the leftover wood from the manufacture of their Bigfoot tables. In this spirit, they collaborated with students from ECAL during the Salone Del Mobile on a special project where students were given the opportunity to work with the same materials and create new objects. 

Over at Bloc Studios, they have a similar approach to reusing surplus materials. Founded in 2014 by Sara Ferron Cima & Massimo Ciu, the company was born out of the desire to transform ‘natural stone into thoughtful everyday objects.’ The result was their 2015 ‘Marmo Domestico’ collection which had its debut at Salone last year. 

Designed by Virgile Thévoz & Josephine Choquet, each piece in the collection is created from industrially salvaged carrara marble and is hand made in Italy. Incorporating accessories but also smaller furniture items such as side tables, the collection is decidedly contemporary, fulfilling the designers wish to create objects that are ‘sincere to modern form and function.’ 

For the Milan furniture fair this year Bloc Studios collaborated with Apartamento magazine to create ‘Blocks’, a modern version of classic children’s wooden building blocks, also created from salvaged carrara marble. These sculptural objects highlight marble's inherent natural beauty. 

Back at ECAL x E15, their installation in e15’s Tortona showroom brought together the highlights of the students work. Half by Nicolas de Vismes is a mirror incorporating a singular slab of e15’s signature European oak, designed with a hanging system that allows the mirror to be hung in three ways. Herz by Hugo Chafotte is a fruit bowl, taking the construction of the Backenzahn as its reference point, the object is CNC milled to create curvature. The way the wood is cut exposes the growth rings of the tree demonstrating the materials past life. 

The Yuragi rocking stool by Hiroyuki Morita illustrates the weight of the substantial oak by creating a gentle rocking motion. Adrien Cugulliere designed the Mitsogo shelf and Bakula console. He said the pieces were inspired by “museum stand typology, especially that used to display African masks”. 

As the old adage says ‘One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.’ And what both of these projects share is a desire to make the most of these natural resources, appreciating their value and beauty. 

The skill and craft in creating desirable objects from leftovers rests in the designer’s ability to exploit the materials natural qualities. What is most notable however is that by making creative use of what is left behind in the conventional manufacturing process, it offers an alternative environmental and also economically savvy approach to design and manufacture than can be easily adopted by other companies. 

This article first appeared in our Milan Review 2016, see it in full here.