The metaphysics of algae

With their Terroir collection made from marine algae collected on the coast, designers Jonas Edvard and Nikolaj Steenfatt have developed a new way to see indoor furniture. An ethical and ecological revolution.

Nikolaj Steenfatt delicately caresses the surface beneath the water with his rake, as though combing the brown and yellow algae before gathering a mass and placing it the bucket floating close beside him. With his legs in sturdy thigh-high boots, he ventures a bit further into the cool waters of this cove north of Copenhagen, not far from the commercial port.

The 32-year-old designer is collecting marine algae (also known as seaweed) for the next Terroir collection he is creating with fellow designer, 37-year-old Jonas Edvard. The latter is on the bank, explaining their approach: “Denmark has a very rich design culture and it was important for us to avoid having any negative impact on that culture by developing environmentally toxic projects, like using plastics. We all now know how much pollution that creates, especially for our oceans. We wanted to find other materials.”

The organic lamps of the Terroir collection.

A precious harvest

The two 30-somethings began collaborating in 2013 while earning their degrees at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen – Jonas Edvard specialising in industrial design, Nikolaj Steenfatt in furniture. “We had a lot of things in common: we wanted to develop new kinds of crafts, to tell a new story by exploring the potential of a green economy. To work in circular design, avoid waste, prioritise local and sustainable. To show that we really can use alternative, ecological materials,” reports Jonas. The budding designers were quickly confronted with a major obstacle: the lack of raw materials in Denmark, a flat country without any large forests…. but with 7,000 kilometres of coastline. Some serious brainstorming led them to the concept of making objects from seaweed gathered near the shores.

The algae are gathered along the Copenhagen coastline.

“We spent a year and a half performing different experiments with this substance, which is found all over the world but is used very little. We’re not scientists, we made a lot of mistakes and we got really dirty before ending up with a satisfactory result,” Jonas says, smiling, just as Nikolaj hauls his harvest onto the bank. It’s a full bucket containing seven or eight seaweed varieties, which he describes to us in detail (“these are very oily, those have a sweet taste...”). In 2015, the duo unveiled their first pieces in their Terroir collection: a chair and three lamps.

The seaweed is then dried and crushed into a powder.

“The word ‘terroir’ expresses a special relationship between a product and the place it’s made, with a focus on the land or a unique know-how or heritage,” explains Nikolaj. “That’s what we wanted to do in keeping the raw material as unrefined as possible.”

Their work was an instant hit. With its unusual appearance, colour and even smell, the natural material is winning over big names in design across the globe. Museums are seeking out these genius neophytes, and the eminent Noma restaurant ordered a batch of ten lamps from the designers. Every week, the pair are bombarded with requests to reveal their secret, the trick that lets them turn seaweed into this remarkable material that is malleable, solid, 100% recyclable and even edible.

Paper, algae and plant-based glue are blended into a homogeneous paste.

Local and non-polluting

The resulting material is malleable, strong and recyclable.

To witness this manufacturing process that so many are eager to see, we follow a country path leading to their workshop, set up in a jumble of sheds next to the studios of designers, artists and architects. The large room is heavily cluttered with shelves, boxes, buckets and moulds that will shape the next lamps. Amongst the disorder, we discover other creations, like their limestone luminaires made with this material that is quite common in Denmark (Noma has ten of these) and chairs in more conventional steel or wood. Jonas brings out a supply of dried seaweed and a bag filled with paper scraps, opens a notebook, jots down some calculations and begins his preparations.

“The base is relatively simple – it’s a mixture of dried seaweed and paper, which makes the material both stronger and lighter,” he says. “Then we bind these two components together with our secret ingredient, a natural glue made from seaweed. This is the ingredient we had a lot of trouble getting right.”

The structures are moulded by hand, then left to air-dry and harden.

While Jonas grinds the ingredients and kneads them together, Nikolaj tells us more about how the Terroir collection was not so much developed for maximising sales, but for the impact these inventions will have on society: “we’ve only made three chairs from this – they’re on display in various museums around Europe at the moment – and a few hundred lamps. What’s most important is our revolutionary approach. We want the industry to understand that furniture and home accessories can be made from local, non-polluting materials.”

A lamp’s colour depends on the seaweed’s original hue and the paper used.

As Jonas finishes filling a mould with the mixture, he looks up and adds his conclusion: “We want to change the mind-set of producers and consumers alike. In short, we’re giving them a way to start a revolution.”

See all their designs at jonasedvard.dk