Mixing craft and technology in its work, Silo Studio, the design collaboration of Attua Aparicio and Oscar Wanless, develop expressive ceramics and glassware. Adopting a hands-on approach, the studio looks closely at industrial processes and materials to gather inspiration for unique concepts. Experimenting with texture, patterns, colour and shape, the design duo create contemporary pieces that truly stand out.
Exhibiting the latest project at Jerwood Makers Open throughout July and August, Newton’s Bucket used a unique production technique for the inertial casting of bowls. We talked to the studio about future plans to experiment with new materials and machinery, as well as ways to manipulate the casting process further…
"Our three essential things are a material, a process, and ultimately us. We're a material and process based design duo so these elements are always present in all of our projects."
"That's a very tricky question. If we had to pick one and only one Attua would choose ceramics, and Oscar metal. The reason is that both materials are very long lasting, versatile and widely used. They each have great potential for innovation.
"A couple of years ago we worked with metal for a bit when we built our own furnace to cast aluminium into silica fabric moulds. At the moment we are starting a project with ceramics. The more we work with these two materials the more we feel that we need to keep working with them. We find them very inspiring and challenging."
"We have received great feedback on our latest project: Newton's Bucket, which was funded through the Jerwood Visual Arts Programme and is currently on display at the Jerwood Makers Open exhibition in London, before touring the UK.
"We are really proud of NSEPS - Not So Expanded Polystyrene - because it was our first project together and it marked Silo's design trajectory. This project was a stepping-stone to all of our projects that were to follow."
"Often in Silo's practice we take inspiration from industrial processes and materials and we develop them and adapt them as a way of innovating craft. We would like to close the loop and take our innovations back to industry to change the way things are made.
"Other projects we would like to do are more social. It would be good to see how our time and effort have an impact in improving people's quality of life."
"We are very excited about a residency that we are doing until mid September in Sweden at Iaspis . It’s at the very beginning and we don't know yet what will happen. We’re taking this residency as a moment to think through the further steps of the studio. Having the time and space to think and start from scratch on a new project (or a direction for a project) is the biggest luxury.
"Also in Sweden we will be doing a collaboration with a glass blower in a former glass factory that was recently reopened as a museum and that has all the machinery still working. We are super excited about this and we definitely want to try more glass centrifuging. It will be about working with the same principles as in our latest project Newton's Bucket but with a completely different material."
Find out more about Silo Studio here.
