Sure, you could be boring and screw wood and metal together – but what if you could drop-forge molten metal into the woodwork? Hello SPECTACULAR. Well, that’s exactly what Hilla Shamia has been doing. The wood is cut to size, a mould is placed around it and molten aluminum is poured in, filling in all the cracks and divots while carbonizing the wood. Have a look.
Metal Wood Masterpieces
Hilla’s Wood Project is a form more stunning than wood and metal alone – a combination I prefer to call Waluminum. As Shamia describes her work,
The negative factor of burnt wood is transformed into aesthetic and emotional value. Preservation of the natural form of the tree trunk within the explicit boundaries. The general, squared form intensifies the artificial feeling, and in the same time keeps the memory of the material.
Amazing as these pieces are, my quandary is about how the fibres and aluminum stay together over time? How well do these chairs stand up to expansion and contraction under a range of temperatures? I suppose this depends on the number, width and depth of cracks in the wood and how well the molten aluminum penetrates them. But even then – is it durable?
I hope so, because these benches ROCK quite hard. No indication of how much these are, or where you can get them, although her website indicates that Ms. Shamia’s Studio is in Milan. Look her up if you’re around, especially if you are in need of a rocking horse, a or a chess set. They’re fabulous as well.
