Olga

Israeli designer Hilla Shamia uniquely joins the materials of aluminum and wood in this Wood Casting series. Using a whole tree trunk, Shamia pours molten aluminum directly onto the wood, which burns the surface and darkens the wood. The wood gets cut up lengthwise and put into a mold to form the frame and legs of the piece.

Furniture combining cast aluminium and wood. The negative factor of burnt wood is transformed into aesthetic and emotional value by preservation of the natural form of the tree trunk, within explicit boundaries. The general, squared form intensifies the artificial feeling, and at the same time keeps the memory of the material.

Each piece is completely one-of-a-kind due to the various trees used and depending on the “leakage” of the metal throughout the wood cracks. I love the mix of natural wood and the sleek modern metal.