Israeli designer HIlla Shamia has found a way to mix “oil and water” or aluminum and wood – two materials I’ve never seen fused together. The product designer has created a novel way to meld both poured aluminum with irregular wood chunks to create modern tables and benches with a warm industrial feel. Old world and new world in one.
We’ve been seeing designers and so-called nature lovers pouring molten aluminum into everything from beehives to scorpion dens to get intricate patterns laid by nature.
Hilla’s process preserves the natural tree form while the molten aluminum goes with the flow as it finds its way into cracks of the wood, burning the wood ever so slightly where the two pieces meet. One can find old aluminum to recycle into new designs, using aluminum cladding or the aluminum from old barn roofs.
