ANDREJ ILIČ

Back In Shape

Product Design Studio

Your work develops from materially-oriented design: you did not determine the outcome you wanted to achieve in your project beforehand. At what point did your experiment with aluminum foam turn into a concrete product – the electric heater? You also mention in the text that some failures were crucial to your research. Was there a moment during the process that fundamentally changed the direction of the entire design?
The key moment for me was the phase when I acquired a detailed understanding of the behavior of molten aluminum. I really “got a sense” for the material. After a series of ten castings, I managed to create a truly large cast of aluminum foam by using a systematic approach. At that moment, I knew I could embark on something bigger. I partially submerged a cast cube (10 cm) of aluminum foam in hot water and was captivated by how quickly the heat permeated the material. But what was even more interesting was that after a few minutes, the water cooled so rapidly that I realized heat transfer would be the right “use case.” This also confirmed the information from my original research.

As part of your process, you use more accessible and experimental methods of producing aluminum foam instead of processes that would be more industrially demanding. Do you think about the potential of democratizing design technology and the possibility of manufacturing more advanced products away from industrial facilities?
This is exactly the approach I am using in my thesis. And it works! In other words, we live in an age when we have so much information and instruction right at our fingertips. High-tech methods are quickly becoming commonplace and accessible. That opens up new possibilities. So why not give it a try? When I started this project, I had absolutely no idea if I would succeed or where it would lead. It takes a lot of work, a lot of sketching and thinking. But the outcome was worth the effort.

If you decided to continue developing the project, would you be interested in delving into production technology in more detail, or would you prefer to explore new product possibilities for this material?
If I had an investor, I would love to explore the limits of the aluminum foam casting process I have designed. I think that would be really interesting. However, this is less likely, so I am focusing on finding new ways to make even better use of the existing material. Since aluminum isn’t exactly a traditional material in this field, there are truly many paths to explore.

photo: Polina Davydenko