CaCO3 Stoneware

Laura Lynn Jansen is an artist and graphic designer whose research-based practice has led her to found Shaping Care, a colour design company that works with healthcare providers to create spaces that heal. Thomas Vailly is a product designer who works with bio-materials and the exploitation of natural processes to create new materials.

Inspired by the growth of stalactites, Jansen and Vailly found a way to ‘grow’ stone in different forms. Their design series, CaCO3 Stoneware, consists of objects grown around 3D printed structures placed in volcanic caves in France. The fragile skeleton undergoes a petrification process that lasts many weeks in specially chosen thermo-mineral springs rich in CaCO3 content. Each thermal spring produces a unique stone quality. Depending on the concentration of iron oxide, the material appears white, red or yellow, and also displays different densities.