Incurved Terrains
The project focuses on discarded materials. In this case, fine silt becomes the central subject: a byproduct generated during the washing phase of gravel extraction. To improve the quality of construction materials like concrete, the extracted mix is washed, producing a slurry that is funneled into large settling pools. There, the silt gradually sinks to the bottom, forming layers, while excess water flows out. These pools, located at the margins of production, are designed for efficiency, yet they accumulate material that resists straightforward classification—as neither useful nor entirely waste.
Silt is fine, light, and slow to settle, but it holds geological memory. What begins as a technical necessity becomes an accidental landscape: the settling pools, over time, shift into dynamic micro-environments. Plants colonize the muddy edges, insects thrive, and the boundary between artificial and organic begins to blur.
Incurved Terrains situates itself within this ambiguity, extending our investigation into quarry waste by actively engaging with the material logic of silt. Since silt represents the discarded fraction of washed sand—material deemed unsuitable for structural use—it prompted a shift in focus: from observing its environmental accumulation to exploring its potential as a casting medium. This led to the development of a hybrid method that draws from both sand casting and slip casting, traditionally used in metal and ceramic work. Sand serves as a temporary, impressionable mold, while the slip—the liquid form of the silt—responds to it through absorption and surface interaction.
Material: Gravel washing fines (by-product)
Process: Slip casting on sand, and kiln-firing
2025 - Schaffhausen - CH.
A series of plates were produced for Steinbeisser event in Goetheanum Basel.
Photos and videos by Studio Eidola.