Hortulanus makes use of low-tech resources such as straw, corn, and loam to radically re-envision our relationship with natural, local materials. They're compostable furniture pieces from long-known low-tech materials that aim to challenge future scenarios. The idea is that objects aren't made for pe
rmanence but rather have a purposefully limited lifespan, incorporate maintenance and decay in their design.
The objects are made in one part from straw panels, a newly engineered material, using agricultural leftover straw and additives like algae, which are fully biodegradable. Other parts are finished with loam, as it has excellent qualities for the indoor room climate. As loam is unfired, it can be reused and reshaped by simply adding water to it, or it can be put back in the ground.
Details like corn ears from barley, bearded wheat and emmer were collected in the fields in July, in a manner accustomed with German harvest rituals like wreath binding.
The work employs vernacular architecture techniques while simultaneously questioning the aesthetics that long have been associated with high-tech and 'green' design. As a result, Hortulanus questions whether the high-tech solutions society is currently pursuing will have the longevity and reliability of their nature-centric alternatives.
Furniture, Tables & Desks, Storage & Shelves, Interior Design & Decoration, tray, console, sidetable, coffeetable
carpentry, sculpting, ramming earth, harvesting, binding ears of corn, crafts related to harvest ritual, plastering earth and loam
straw panel, ears of wheat, ears of emmer, rammed earth, loam
