A Reflection on 2016 – A Few of Mint’s Favourites

Everywhere one looks, especially in the media, 2016 seems to get a bad rep, so we thought at Mint we’d look back at some of the good points from the year. Continue reading to see some of the team’s stand-out pieces. Enjoy!

Staffa Light & Joining Bottles

Staffa Light

Geological formations in the form of hexagonal basalt rocks on the west coast of Scotland provided part of the inspiration for the shape and colour scheme of this one-off floor lamp. Apart from geological inspiration, their expression was also influenced by modernism and even the feel of the original Star Wars films.

Joining Bottles

Through her work, the designer seeks to contribute to society by unveiling ways to play and benefit from local resources and natural forces in order to empower people. ‘Joining Bottles’ is an experimental joining technique using plastic bottles.

Plastic bottles hide an incredible property; under heat, they shrink and can therefore join things together to create functional structures. Scavenged from different parts of London, all of the materials used reveal their availability, their identity and their creative potential.

Celebrating 10 Years of Clay

The Clay series is from a dutch designer whose work varies from conceptual designs, limited editions, production design, installations, public space, architecture, interior design, to theatre design and performances.

The spontaneous and naïve designs made of industrial clay and finished in bright colours has led to a wide collection. All CLAY pieces are unique, as each is made and shaped by hand, without the use of a mold.

Sediment Collection & Coffee Set

Sediment Collection

By pushing the limits of existing 3D printing technologies, the designer has arrived at machines that produce larger forms and work with materials beyond conventional plastics. Out of paraffin and even clay, he has printed collections of objects that soften the precise and indifferent definition of industrial design.

The designer has created vases seemingly handwoven by the hands of individual artisans, ceramics crafted with random imperfections, and pottery shaped by the environment they were made in – all made with a 3D printer.

Coffee Set

Coffee Set is a record of a thoroughly unique situation we create each time we drink coffee. We sit, we read, we write, we contemplate, we remain silent. Every person is surrounded by different objects and has a unique appearance. People and objects that surround us create unique structures that are recorded in the Coffee Set which is made of Papermash, and coffee as its main ingredient.

Tension Mirror

The tension mirror is by a designer maker whose practice involves furniture and product making with a sculptural simplicity and functionality influenced through the distinct use of materials. Showing a great interest in the revival of ancient techniques and craft processes, these are brought into a new context.

The Tension Mirror explores the relationship between naturally occurring resources and machine made materials. The mirror cuts in to the material, merely held by a fine brass band to create a delicate interplay of tension, gravity and varying surface textures.

The Beautiful Unperfect

This designer’s work explores the industrial processes of production in a poetic way, revealing their uniqueness, and developing the potential of different materials. They have revisited an antique Wedgwood object, where the aim was to create a bridge between the past and the future, symbolising the human and environmental mutations through the process of making – imitating the life cycle.

By carving progressively the plaster mould of the original vase, she transformed the vase until it disappears behind its new skin.

Fluid Subtraction

This collection explores the boundaries within clay through experimental processes. With metal as an aesthetic reference and material contrast, additive and subtractive methods are used to create pieces with minimal amounts of clay. The results show opposing characteristics; clay can be both fluid and rigid. Some pieces are very controlled in their process of making, while others depend on chance.

State of Transience

State of Transience is a responsive design process, which is continuously shifting over time. Using the relatively simple design archetype of a chair, the designer repurposes materials, making additions, subtractions and mutations, to suggest the impossibility of a final or fixed form. Each new version of this chair, documented in incremental stages, shows evidence of it’s future potential.

Sculpted Chairs & Laminated Cabinet

Sculpted Chairs

An artist and cabinetmaker whose approach is not to search, but to find, this furniture series is borne out of existing chairs, liberating the materials by sculpting them with inspiration taken from nature itself. The desire here is to bring the chair back to the forest.

Laminated Cabinet

This designer explores traditional combinations of materials and techniques; modified, altered or reinvented.

Pieces of leftover veneer are pressed together to form a sturdy whole. For this modular shelving system, the industrial process of laminating is applied manually. Normally, veneer is used to cover a less attractive material underneath. Here, veneer is used throughout the whole object. By pressing the layers together over a solid wooden structure, the material is formed and strengthened.

Let’s hope 2017 brings us just as many exciting, innovative designers!