One of the experiments

At the studio we find important to keep experimenting with new shapes,colors and textures. That’s why Nacho asked me to make new samples. It all started with shapes that we created with jute.

jute before dipping                                                              jute after dipping

This would be the base of the experiments. After we made jute shapes, we dipped them in plaster to make them solid. This brought us a lot of nice surprises, since we couldn’t exactly see how the shapes were going to be when they were just made out of jute. We could control the shapes, but not completely, so all the shapes came out with an organic form.

This was not the end of the experiments. For these tests we had natural, a bit African colors in mind. Colors you can’t find in a shop. We searched for them in natural things: such as flowers, leafs, metal dust and lots of other things. With these ingredients we made our own special pigments.

Mixing fruit

pigments we made

After we applied them on the shapes, they kept changing for a few days untill all the colors were completely absorbed: the colors found their own natural way on the shapes.

one of the material experiments

We decided to experiment with a particular concrete that had quite a strong greyish colour, so achieving the colour range we wanted was difficult. However after much testing, we are pretty confident that the final material will survive the winter! Getting a result has been particularly interesting for us because while the material is concrete based, we can still apply it to a structure in the same way we would paper-mache. Applied to a larger structure, it has a stone-like quality and although obviously concrete, the forms look unusually hand sculpted for concrete.

Original Paper-Mache tests

Early Tests with Concrete

Larger Test Piece with different textures

Detail of test with steel Meshing

The leaves are ground down into a range of different powder densities and mixed with the adhesive in a giant dough mixer.

It is an important part of our materials research that we try where possible to use what is available and found around us. The Evolution series, that is finished with our own specialized paper mache, uses waste newspaper and other found paper refuse. In the same way the raw material for the Tree Chair, is leaves collected by members of the team from the streets and parks in and around Eindhoven where the studio is based.

Selection of the rich variety of leaf colours we found.

We have been in the process of producing a second version of the Tree Chair, and whilst re-creating the original material, we have enjoyed experimenting with the leaves of different trees, to see what range of material colours we could produce using only the natural pigments within the fallen leaves.

Initial tests where the material is pushed through wire meshing to create texture.

More samples.

This object has been a “little big” success in Nacho´s Studio, so we´ve decided to finish the bronze collection.

The series is of 12, these will be the last 8. And that’s it!

The little giraffes are made out of fascinating material and are each unique.

Modelled by hand, they represent one of the most special gifts that the studio is involved right now.

Opened mold out of rubber and plaster. We start by closing it and filling it with wax.

Melting the wax a lost giraffe falls into the pan…      unfortunately, nobody will save her now.

Pouring the wax into the mould.

This is how we get our hollow giraffe,  which is now ready to be joined to one of her friends.

This picture shows how these two girafres will be joined forever!!

Our giraffe army is getting ready.

Here we see how the chimneys are introduced to the wax object. These will help the air to get out. We don´t want any bubbles…

This is right before making the mold, which is made of a mix of plaster.

These are our plaster moulds ready to go to the oven which will melt the wax, leaving the path for the bronze.

Once the bronze is cast, here we can see how they are released from the mold.

Already bronze casted, here we can see the channels and chimneys, path for the metal to reach and fill the mold.
The pieces still need to be cut, welded and sanded before getting the final result.

And this is one type of Bronze Jirafes, finished and ready to go.

The whole process is very fascinating and inspiring. At the moment we keep making new models, always melting the boundaries between design, crafts and art.

New form proposals for our bronze giraffes.

I was confronted with Nacho’s task of making a miniature version of his Concrete Giraffe creature in July.

First i made a clay model, then after many corrections under Nachos supervision we moulded it in rubber.

rubber mould sliced open

I then did test casts in different plasters plastics and foams in different colors sticking to Nachos color pallete.

After assesing the qualities of the test, i was told to continue making the giraffes out of foam, as a small object made of foam they seemed more tactile and playfull, being soft the bearer would not be afraid to damage or brake one and feel more free to play with it.

Having to work with foam for the first time i found it hard to make them seamless and perferct. Nacho, having done his Pump it Up project with latex animals, suggested to cover them in latex also, it’ll give a familiar to his work texture, and hide the visible imperfections.

i then used some previously coloured latex (used for the pump it up), and mixed some new colors also, and covered the giraffes my dipping then into latex and hang them to dry on my giraffe hanging device

and after all are covered and dry the last step was to get rid of the shine with talcum powder.

As my first assignment as an intern at Studio Nacho Carbonell, i was to make a 1:10 scale model based on Nachos’ drawings and previous models of the Soft Concrete project.

this is a finished model out of clay, each segment was mixed with different proportions of red and white clay.

Video composed by the design journalist Robert Aneriessen in an attempt to document the “design movement” of AtelierDorp ( where the studio of Nacho Carbonell is situated )