Metal is difficult to work with: you need high temperatures, strong tools, special equipment. But the weight, the shine, the solid-ness of metal means it’s satisfying to make things from. Solidus removes the barriers stopping more amateur and small-scale craftspeople from using metal.
Since the Arts and Crafts movement, a key part of craft’s value has been in providing an alternative. An alternative, then, to the mechanisation and urbanisation of the industrial revolution. An alternative, now, to a culture of throwaway consumerism and mass production. Solidus builds on this, integrating the concept of circularity in to craft.
The tool miniaturises a melting furnace into your hand, and gives you precise control of the flow of liquid pewter. Carefully calibrated temperature regulation and well-designed insulation keep it safe and comfortable during use. The recovery mould lets you recycle unwanted practice pieces, melting them on a stovetop before casting them into rods to feed in to the tool. Working prototypes of both parts of the system demonstrate the feasibility of the product concept, while aesthetic models show the design intent for the form of a final design.
The form references the nostalgia the concept sprang from: it takes inspiration from the late art deco design of the 1930s, in which the cutting edge in industrial materials like metals and ‘scientific’ aerodynamic form were central to the aesthetic. Both the tool and the mould use a simple, functional material palette, and a streamlined form.