Kevin Rouff and Paco Böckelmann show how industrial by-products can be transformed into universal materials. The aim of the Amsterdam-based designers, aka Studio ThusThat: To use hidden resources, question the aesthetics of materials and offer new perspectives on sustainable design. A portrait.
by Markus Hieke
What Kevin Rouff and Paco Böckelmann have achieved in recent years could be described as a real take-off. As recent graduates, they had long been approached by research institutions and industrial companies. They met on the joint Innovation Design Engineering course at Imperial College and the Royal College of Art in London. When they experimented with red mud in 2019 – together with two fellow students at the time – they quickly realised that it wasn’t the remnants of intensive industries that were the problem. Rather, it was the fact that there was still little effort to recycle the masses of sometimes toxic waste in any meaningful way. They turned their attention to the mining and processing of bauxite, the raw material used to make aluminium.
From Taboo to Tableware
The benefits of the coveted light metal are undisputed, but the handling of the red mud is. To put this into perspective: For every tonne of the valuable metal aluminium, there is at least one and a half times as much of the corrosive, toxic and sometimes radioactive by-product. Until now, the bauxite residues have been stored in huge, ever-growing reservoirs in the middle of fragile ecosystems – in the rainforests of Brazil or not far from the coasts of Australia. Forever. That is, unless a catastrophe occurs, such as the Bento Rodrigues dam breach in Brazil in 2015 or the Kolontár accident in western Hungary in 2010, when up to 1.1 million cubic metres of arsenic- and mercury-containing sludge poisoned surrounding farmland, water and villages. The reasons for this risky practice sound banal: It is simply uneconomical to pursue recycling strategies on an industrial scale. Then there are the high hurdles to certification and the fact that many people are put off by the image of the red waste.
Kevin Rouff and Paco Böckelmann began their long-term project ‘Red Mud’ during their studies. With the right additives, red mud can be treated in a similar way to ceramics and, thanks to its high oxide content, can also be processed into glazes. The alkaline nature of the material is neutralised during the firing process: Studio ThusThat
The student team found a way to polish the toxic red sludge. They used the waste to make rust-coloured tableware – plates, bowls, teapots and vases. The process is similar to making ceramics. The process binds the volatile components and salts. The main problem with red mud is that it is made up of very fine particles and has a high alkali and salt content,” explains Kevin Rouff. As dust, it can get into the air and water, and the alkalis can potentially seep into the environment. This is not a bad thing in itself – nature deals with dusts and alkalis all the time, such as ash from a fire – but it is the large quantities that pose a risk. We’re talking millions of tonnes in a single area. While the radioactive nature of the bauxite residue can be a concern, Rouff explains that this depends on the origin of the ore. Most red mud sites are well below safety limits and the content of the material is similar to that of granite rock. Turning the bauxite residue into decorative objects was one way of challenging the perception of the material. An appropriate scale would be to use it in construction, for concrete, tiles, roads and so on,’ says Kevin Rouff. In Europe, however, there are strict standards that limit the potential use of the material on a larger scale.
Making Research Visible
How did the studio came to be founded? ‘Paco and I continued working together straight after university,’ says Kevin Rouff. The students had sought scientific support for their red sludge project at the KU Leuven in Belgium. ‘There is a laboratory there that specialises in waste streams from a wide range of industries.’ This involves mining residues, slag or ash, such as that left over from the incineration of household waste. ‘The laboratory invited us to work with its scientists.’ The duo translated the findings of almost 20 doctoral students into tangible design drafts. ‘Within three months, we developed six chairs, a dining table, some vases, tiles and pendant and table lamps. Some of them were very bizarre,’ recalls Rouff. Three of these pieces are now in museum collections, including the London Design Museum. Other pieces went into private collections. ‘It was the first paid project for us. The studio emerged from that.’
From then on, they were in contact with more and more institutions and companies. ‘We simply went with the momentum.’ A momentum that they also used to move to Amsterdam. Paco had already worked at Joris Laarman in Amsterdam before his time in London. The studio is known for its innovative 3D printed designs, which are also realised on an architectural scale. When a friend drew their attention to a vacant studio, the decision was made. ‘Interestingly, many of our clients, especially in the field of architecture, now come from the UK, although the Benelux countries certainly have a more experimental climate.’
‘We believe that an important part of the future of sustainability will be changing our mindset as consumers…’
– Kevin Rouff
Secondary Aesthetics
They see themselves as communicators, helping companies to find ways of using by-products and waste. In a project called ‘One-Side-Sawn’, they shed light on another aspect of aluminium production.
The background: When aluminium is cast into multi-tonne ingots, the result is a wrinkled surface, which is cut smooth before being delivered for further processing. These edges are usually re-melted and re-formed into new ingots. However, Studio ThusThat transforms them into furniture: shelves, mirrors, tables and armchairs. We don’t see these sections as waste. Our idea was to use these edges in a form that we call secondary aesthetics,’ explains the designer.
Why is this relevant? When we think of aluminium, we tend to imagine a perfect metal. As with most materials we consume as consumers, we don’t question how things are made and how materials end up in our hands. While the manufacturing industry later delivers flawless products that can be reproduced thousands of times, Studio ThusThat uses One-Side-Sawn to approach an aesthetic that appears unpolished and unique. We believe that an important part of the future of sustainability will be changing our mindset as consumers and no longer expecting everything to be made from virgin materials.
Studio ThusThat uses the aesthetics of freshly cast aluminium blocks, whose rough surface is usually cut off and melted down again. For ‘One-Side-Sawn’ they created furniture and wall mirrors from the solid plates. / Photo: Studio ThusThat
Of course, such concepts do not reach the masses. Most of their designs to date have been bought as collectors’ items. This is also the case with another theme that is currently being developed into a project with broad impact. This is the use of slag from the production and recycling of copper or steel. Here too, industrial companies are stuck with their waste. With ‘This Is Copper’, the duo show how the black, lava-like mass can be used. Kevin Rouff and Paco Böckelmann propose side tables and lamps that use the slag as a geopolymer to produce cement-free concrete. They combine moulded black blocks with hammered copper elements. But the potential is even greater. These days the duo are launching a new company to offer building materials, initially for indoor use and later for architectural projects.
Studio ThusThat is passionate about giving value to what is considered worthless and reversing perspectives. Kevin Rouff and Paco Böckelmann start where others see the end – an end that leaves too much potential to be ignored.
Slag, a by-product of the processing of most metals, is also an under-utilised material. In ‘This Is Copper’, Rouff and Böckelmann transform the lava-like mass into side tables and lamps. / Photo: Studio ThusThat
About the Author
Markus Hieke is a freelance journalist and author specialising in interior/product design and architecture. With a background in communication design, he started writing in 2013 and has since established himself in renowned German and international trade and consumer media. His mission is to make design accessible to a broad audience through portraits, interviews and background reports on protagonists and topics ranging from craftsmanship to circularity, even when they are out of the limelight.
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