Studio ThusThat

I’ve known for a long time that behind the scenes photography of making is a sweet spot for me, bringing together what I love most in both of my work fields, but THIS sweet of a spot I didn’t know existed ^^^^ Last year I documented the design and making process of the five selected design studio’s for the artist-in-residence program by @athrart and @rcu_ksa . The project took me on a journey to four different countries and introduced me to new materials, processes and cultures.. and more than anything else; amazing people in all of these places. The whole thing has made me feel very blessed with my work :) going through the material now, I realise I miss it a lot! Thank you Yasmin, Mehdi, Ori, Aseel, Paco and Kevin for welcoming me into your spaces and showing me your crafts! and thanks to everyone @athrart for the trust! @harrietflavel @studiothusthat @ori_orisun @a_l_t_i_n__s_t_u_d_i_o @aseelaoa @anja.saleh @g.lochis @dominiquepetit_ @arnaud__morand @bareah.kusai #processphotography Material Witness is on show in AlUla @artsalula and a dedicated publication on the project has been released by @monocle_subscriber ; available in all of their stores :) * if you have an industrial / craft process that you want documented, let me know! I’m ready to go ^^

Geometry has a tendency to pop out in the desert; when the landscape is so organic, the semblance of controlled intention is surprising. In our time wandering around the canyons of AlUla, we were particularly drawn to the circle—circles traced by desert plants in the wind, the canopy of palms, the volcanic crater, Ottoman circular forts, basalt grinding tools, the odd trace of a bonfire, and perhaps most acutely, the mysterious stone structures found across the lava fields. 
These stone structures, known as ‘desert kites’ or ‘Works of the Old Men’, are believed to be up to 9,000 yrs old (even Neolithic), making them some of the oldest structures known. Their uses are debated— perhaps ritualistic or funerary, perhaps animal trappings, perhaps something else. Viewed from above, they have an unusual geometric shapes that jump from the otherwise washed landscaped. They are typically made of basalt and other lavastones, resisting the erosion of time. 
In our ‘Harrat’ installation, we draw from these monumental cairns and invite people to gather and reflect. — Thoughts and research from the ‘Harrat’ project, as part of the AlUla Design Residency, hosted by the @artsalula @rcu_ksa and L’Agence Française pour le développement d’ALULA @horizonalula @arnaud__morand @ali.alghazzawi @kh1co @emilymarant @audrey_chazal @dominiquepetit_ @anja.saleh @athrart Imgs 1-4: Desert kites, ancient basalt monumental structures, courtesy of the Royal Commission, 2025, form the book “AlUla as Language” 5-7: desert plants tracing circles 8: pre-Ottoman circular structures atop the harrat overlooking AlUla 9: possibly Ottoman or Nabatean circular basalt constructions 10: circular basalt grinding wheel

While most of Saudi Arabia’s volcanoes are dormant, its nascent mining and metallurgy sector is producing a new type of lava from its industrial furnaces. Rocks (ore) are melted down, the metal is extracted, and the leftover molten byproduct is slag: a human-made lava that is cast aside in large heaps. This black, glassy gravel is nearly indistinguishable from the lavastone you would find on the Arabian shield. And like lava, slag has unique properties, being able to be manipulated into cements, glasses, or ceramics. Lavastone is also incredibly resistant to heat—this trait is exploited historically with enamelled lavastone found in regions like the Auvergne (FR) and Sicily (IT). Where most stones would explode in the furnace, lavastone excels and can be coated in a glass enamel layer (somewhat similar to ceramic glazing). In this project, we created the first-ever demonstration of enamelled slag. We’re not quite sure what it is: casted like a concrete, but finished like a ceramic. The aim is to bring a rather luxurious feel to an otherwise unwanted residue. —- Thoughts and research from the ‘Harrat’ project, as part of the AlUla Design Residency, hosted by the @artsalula @rcu_ksa and L’Agence Française pour le développement d’ALULA @horizonalula @arnaud__morand @ali.alghazzawi @kh1co @emilymarant @audrey_chazal @dominiquepetit_ @anja.saleh @athrart — Imgs: 1) Slag pour by Nordroden 2) Detail of molten slag 3) Volcanic eruption 4) Obsidian and basalt from our climb up the volcano 5) Slag granulates used in the project by @adegfoto 6) Detail of lava rock, nearly unmistakable from slag 7) Wandering the harrat of Khaybar 8) Friendly stranger making us tea atop a volcano, seated on lava sand (looking very slag-like) 9) Detail of enameled slag with slag rock by @adegfoto 10) Detail of finish Harrat bench by @g.lochis

The volcanic landscape of Saudi Arabia offers an unexpected counterpoint to the sandstone typologies typically found in pictures. Places like Sicily, Japan, Hawaii, and Iceland have strong associations of volcanic beauty, but few people would think the same of Saudi Arabia. And yet, there are over 2000 volcanoes (!) scattered across striking volcanic fields— known as ‘harrat’—blanketing a large part of the western Arabian plate. These harrat offer a different type of desert: black, barren, and some made impassable by glassy obsidian (our shoes were absolutely shredded on our climbs). And in Khaybar just south of AlUla, you’ll find an incredible phenomenon— the white volcanos (Jabal Abyad and Bayda), formed from a silica-rich lava called comendite. While mostly consisting of types of basalt, the harrat also hosts a rich diversity of minerals that were churned upwards by the molten activity; you find them in veins of blues, greens, reds and yellows across the landscape. These minerals are of great interest to the energy transition and a focal point of the Vision 2030’s industrial aims. While often obscured by the Kingdom’s megaprojects, the industrial boom is no less impressive, with an entirely new metal sector emerging alongside desalination and renewables. We’ll be sharing more on our thoughts and research during our time in AlUla over the next few posts— stay with us. From the ‘Harrat’ project, as part of the AlUla Design Residency, hosted by the @artsalula @rcu_ksa and L’Agence Française pour le développement d’ALULA (AFALULA, @horizonalula ). The final piece is currently on view as part of “Material witnesses” exhibition, curated by @dominiquepetit_ and @mifdarch at @designspacealula as part of the AlUla Arts Festival. W/thanks to: @arnaud__morand @ali.alghazzawi @kh1co @emilymarant @audrey_chazal @anja.saleh @athrart Img’s: 1. Aerial of Harrat Khaybar’s black and white volcanoes, ©️NASA 2. Jabal Abyad, by A. Aldakheel 3. ThusThat climbing Jabal Qidr 4. Obsidian meets basalt landscape 5. On the road near Khaybar 6. ThTh has tea with friendly man atop volcano 7. ThTh explores lava rock 8. The seven volcanoes, c. Al Arabiya

Detail of the ‘Harrat’ installation. This project brings lavastone and slag, materials with molten origins, into dialogue. It is a meeting point for the ancient geology of the landscape and the new geology emerging from the region’s nascent industrial furnaces, and a meeting point for people. This piece hopes to draw attention to the overlooked beauty of the Arabian volcanic fields, known as ‘harrat’, alongside the new industrial vision of the Kingdom. For this installation, metallurgical slag, a byproduct of copper factories, was used to create a new type of concrete, but finished like a ceramic (we don’t really know what to call it). First the slag is activated and cast into moulds, where it hardens into a stone-like material; then, we apply a glassy enamel layer and run it through a kiln. This technique is not possible with regular concrete or stone, though it’s traditionally used on lavastone in regions of France and Italy, further underscoring the similarity between both materials. This is the first demonstration of its kind. 
Stay with us as we share more thoughts behind the project. 
Designed and made as part of the AlUla Design Residency, hosted by the @artsalula @rcu_ksa and L’Agence Française pour le développement d’ALULA (@horizonalula ). 
@arnaud__morand @ali.alghazzawi @kh1co @emilymarant @audrey_chazal @dominiquepetit_ @anja.saleh @athrart Img 2 @g.lochis

Excited to show images from the Harrat project. This past Summer, we had the opportunity to spend several months in the northwest of Saudi Arabia as part of the AlUla Design Residency, hosted by the @artsalula @rcu_ksa and #afalula . We wandered desert canyons, munched on dates in the oasis, meandered through adobe ruins, sat by the fire, climbed volcanos, and learned about a region steeped history. This is the resulting piece we made.
 This installation merges two molten geologies, one ancient and natural, the other novel and manmade. A large basalt monolith stands at the head of a circular seating arrangement, echoing the countless volcanos that dot the western Arabian Shield. The seating is made of enamelled metallurgical slag—a kind a of synthetic lava emerging in molten streams from the furnaces of the Kingdom’s nascent industrial sector. Metals like copper are crucial to any attempt at decarbonisation, and KSA is quickly building its own plants to meet this demand, extracting and melting vast quantities of rock in the pursuit of crucial minerals. The project aims to underscore the overlooked beauty of the volcanic history of a land typically pictured as a sandy desert, while also elevating an overlooked human material counterpart: How can this new industrial geology better serve aims of rapid development and resilience? 

We loved our time in AlUla, and are very grateful to the many people involved, including:
Leaders @arnaud__morand @ali.alghazzawi @kh1co @emilymarant Curation @dominiquepetit_ @anja.saleh 
The team throughout @athrart @audrey_chazal @harrietflavel Saeed Alkambashi @bareah.kusai @noran_reda @ellenrockstudio 
Jury @humberto_campana @tulgabeyerle @tarinijhanda @emmanueltibloux 
And @sumighose @zeyad_bin_tariq @cyrilzam @_saraghani @mifdarch Photos w/ @g.lochis 
Our hosts, Mabiti hotel
Our food @yemeni_taste Immense thanks to our studio team: Scarlett / @redplust on moulds, casting, material excellence, and great vibes @yotamsion on the modular structure design-engineering @samuelebialy on finishing, glazing, and the last mile @ahmtdundar on studio buildout

تغوص هذه المجموعة من البلاطات في أعماق النسيج المعماري للقاهرة التاريخية، حيث يكشف التباين بين الطوب الأحمر والأسمنت عن سردية تنم عن المقاومة والتحول. تحتفي المجموعة بمادية القاهرة وتراثها وتنوعها الاجتماعي وثقافة الحِرف التي تبرز بوضوح، إذ تثني بصريًا وحسيًا على روح المدينة الصامدة. يرتكز التصميم على استخدام الطوب الأحمر المسحوق كصبغة، إذ يضفي على البلاط أطيافًا تتراوح بين درجات الرمادي الأسمنتية الدافئة والأحمر الفاتح وحتى الأحمر الداكن. ولا يقتصر هذا الاستخدام على تسليط الضوء على الطوب الأحمر الذي عادةً ما يكون مخفيًا فحسب، بل يحاكي أيضًا الطابع الفسيفسائي للنسيج العمراني للقاهرة، لتصبح بذلك كل قطعة أرض في المدينة جزءًا من قالب البلاط، إذ يمتلئ بألوان شتى ليُشكّل نمطًا فريدًا. تصميم باكو بوكلمان من ستوديو ذَس ذات، نُفذت هذه البلاطات بالتعاون مع ورشة تقليدية للبلاط الأسمنتي بالقاهرة التاريخية. This tile collection explores the architectural tapestry of Historic Cairo, where the juxtaposition of red brick and cement reveals a narrative of resilience and transformation. It is a reflection and celebration of Cairo’s materiality, heritage, social diversity, and pronounced crafts culture, offering a visual and tactile homage to the city’s enduring spirit. Central to the design is the use of crushed red brick as a pigment, infusing the tiles with hues ranging from cement’s warm greys to pastel red, all the way to deep burgundy. This not only brings the often-hidden red brick to the forefront but also mirrors the mosaic-like composition of Cairo’s urban fabric. Each building plot becomes a fragment in the encaustic tile mould, filled with varying colours to create a unique pattern. Designed by Paco Böckelmann, part of the @studiothusthat duo, these tiles were implemented in collaboration with a traditional cement tile workshop in Historic Cairo.

‘925’ Mirrors as part of the “Tools of Rekindling” exhibition @defabriekedhv during @dutchdesignweek . Curated by @elenagenesio and @emmiemassias , the exhibition delves into the ethical dilemmas surrounding the mining of natural resources, blurred practices of land management, and the shifting value of raw materials in globalised economies. ____ Silver from objects destined to be melted and recycled are dissolved, and the liquified silver is used to create these mirrors following a 19th century technique. The result is a puddle-like mirror suspended in glass, at times unpredictable, and always unique. The shape draws attention to the liquid form to which silver inevitably returns in its production and recycling. ____ “Tools of Rekindling” features a series of objects and installations by @studioeidola , @elenagenesio and @emmiemassias , @benedettapompilistudio , @studiothusthat and @maja.wachowski

Pleasant surprise to learn we’d been shortlisted for the Dezeen x Bentley Lighthouse Award. And an even better surprise to see our name alongside other designers we have greatly admired since the beginning. Huge thank you to all who have helped and endured our curious obsessions along the way. And thank you to @dezeen @bentleymotors (Also pictured second from left- #christienmeindertsma )

We’ve been busy on a large number of red mud pieces shipping out today, so a little throwback to the early days of working with this unruly material over the years. For those who don’t know, our studio really began in the messy world of ‘red mud’, a waste of the alumina mining industry. To make aluminium, a red stone (bauxite) is extracted and refined, leaving behind a slurry called ‘red mud’. This means across the globe are vast waste sites storing +150M tonnes per year. Hovering around these are teams of scientists and companies trying to figure out what to do with it. 
In our Red Mud project, we approach the material from an angle that asks us to reconsider first our perception of it. We try to carve out an aesthetic appreciation through ceramics, using the material to create a ceramic body, as well as the glaze. 

The work has continued since 2019, visiting many different waste sites, some frozen and remote, others remediated, others forgotten. We’ve become absolutely inured to the reddish hues of our workshop, and have found ourselves digging through muds from over 6 countries, working with many teams of people. It’s been a wild and muddy ride - #redmud #bauxiteresidue #bauxite #ceramics #waste #design

‘925’ Mirrors on view @thefrozenfountain — Pure silver, derived from a recycling plant, is liquified and poured onto glass. The soft shades of colour are inspired by the patina and tarnish found on the very same antique objects that are melted down into recycling ingots. The project aims to poke at the idea of material value outweighing the objects’ historical or crafted value. Pictured here are 90 x 70 cm variants. All sizes possible. With thanks to the support in the investigation into silver from @stimuleringsfonds - the support from fine metal producer @heimerleundmeule — the support from the glass expertise of @vandijkenglass and the initiation of the exploration from the curatorial team at @ornamenta2024 — #silver #silver #mirror #mirroring #design

How we make mirrors using silver, old objects and some potion making. Objects from a precious metal recycling plant are documented, dissolved and purified in order to get a liquified silver, in a similar process to the recyclers. The silver is then poured into glass with another chemical reaction, and, after a short wait, the glass is flipped over to reveal a mirror. It might be a bit shocking to dissolve a seemingly valuable antique— but this is the main question this series of mirrors aims to poke at: what happens when the material value of a thing outweighs its artistic, historical or emotional value? Our ‘925’ series plays with the idea of liquidity and value, taking small amounts of silver and, through a technique borrowed from the 1800s, creating a multitude of larger mirrors. Recycling is essential today, even in jewelry and keepsakes, but it reminds us that even the finest of objects inevitably have their own impermanence. Each mirror is uniquely poured. Each comes with a photo of an object from the recycling center. And can be made in any color / size / format. #chemistry #silver #silvering #mirror #mirrors #mirroring #design #recycling #wallart