Post Luxury: Materials of Context
by Marni Bowman
The side table is made of two constituents only - oyster shell and a mineral salt by Marni Bowman.
Using discarded oyster shells and crystals, the project Post Luxury takes aim at opulence, redefining value through a material that creates a cultural connection to the community at its source. Undertaken at Elisava University in Barcelona, Spain, by Marni Bowman for the Master’s program Design Through New Materials, the novel and sustainable material sits at the intersection of science, design, and art, and is informed by Marni’s background in environmental science and furniture design.
Fanny Bay, Canada
Food waste to a precious raw material
The starting point of Post Luxury was inspired by the mountainous piles of oyster shells seen alongside the highway in the coastal town of Fanny Bay, Canada – a community that is defined by, and built on, oyster farming industry. While the oyster itself is perceived as a luxury food worldwide, the shell is most often disposed of, save for a small amount that is reintegrated into the oyster farming process as larvae growth substrate. In 2016 alone, 438 billion tons of oysters were produced, with the majority of the shells being unduly discarded.
The thesis aimed to create a new, oyster shell-based material through research-driven design with a scientific approach. By creating a means of valorizing the shell, we can both reintegrate it into a circular waste stream as new input and alter the current perception of the shell from that of waste to a precious material.
Certain material associations are so strong that they can be immediately identified, telling a story to the observer of their origin and salience to society. A material that is made in the place that it originates from, maintaining a visual connection to the source, has the potential to hold the same place associations as, for example, Carrara marble from Carrara, Italy. By utilizing the oyster shell to create a material representing the local culture, we encourage pride of place from that material association, creating value through the physical embodiment of the context in which it was formed.
Circular Economy & Sustainability
This crystallized ceramic is the result of a detailed study of the natural processes that surround us. By studying the microscopic structure formation of the shell itself, Marni could recreate the same crystallization process that builds the shell on a larger scale. Using only shell fragments, a mineral solute, and water, one can control the crystallization process, binding the shell fragments together. The resulting material is hard and durable and is a potential replacement for carbon-emitting materials like concrete and ceramics. As this material reaches its end of life, it can be broken down and reintegrated into a new generation of material, much like the oyster shell. By doing so, the material assumes the lifespan of the oyster shell itself - potentially centuries. If the material needs to be disposed of, the two simple components of the material, shell and mineral, when broken up and widely dispersed, can act as macro and micronutrients in the soil, bolstering plant health.
This material serves as a medium to bring into question the consequences of globalization and our current means of production and consumption. As nations have competed for international imports during this ongoing pandemic, what has emerged has been a national pride in the ingenuity and resourcefulness of local designers, scientists, industries and neighbourhoods that have banded together in ad-hoc partnerships.
By taking advantage of the local resources and knowledge available to us, simplifying production chains, we, in turn, become more resilient as a community. By undertaking the crystallization process on the shores of Fanny Bay, Marni was able to demonstrate that by approaching material design through different perspectives, we are able to create systems of production that are simple, produce no waste, and can elevate previously overlooked industry by-products to items of high value that can be visibly traced back to their source.
The side table is made of two constituents only- oyster shell and a mineral salt.