Sands of time: Malouin explores process for London Design Festival

London – LS:N Global recently visited the studio of designer Philippe Malouin Malouin for an insight into the creation process behind the Dunes collection of tableware he is producing for 1882 Ltd’s exhibition during the London Design Festival.

Over the past 18 months he has been designing a bone china series for small, family-run company 1882, which is reviving bone china in Britain.

‘I think the process is always much more interesting than the product itself,’ Malouin tells LS:N Global. ‘Adapting materials and transformation techniques that are not meant to be used in certain applications.’

Fascinated by the beauty of the mundane, Malouin was inspired by the grace and movement of grains of sand flowing in an hourglass to demonstrate the passing of time. After experimenting with an adapted record player he has re-created this motion using a lo-fi machine that slowly deposits sugar grains in a circular motion to build high dunes of grain on a rotating plate. After the gentle process of depositing grains to the required diameter and height for the plate size, a silicone mixture is poured over the sugar dunes. When set, this forms an inverted mould, which is then finally cast in plaster, and slipcast with bone china by 1882.

An artful interpretation of time passing, the final Dunes collection will be presented as part of 1882’s Sand and Clay exhibition at Paper Tiger in the Brompton Design District during the London Design Festival. For more insight into the must-see events during the festival, see our show preview and our preview films with Lola Lely, Jacopo Sarzi and Max Fraser.