Lost & found Objects
Unique objects made of 100% recycled wax and cast aluminium with the Cire Perdu method, lost wax casting
Wax reclaimed from restaurants in and around Malmö, Sweden.
This project explores the boundary between ephemerality and permanence, between waste and value. The Lost & Found objects explore how we value what is made to be consumed—and discarded. In Sweden, over 40,000 tons of candles are used each year, leaving 8,000 tons of leftovers. Wax, though loved in use, holds no value once the flame is gone.
By collecting wax remnants from Malmö restaurants and transforming them into unique aluminium objects using the traditional lost wax method, this logic is turned upside down. By hand-dipping like in traditional candle making the designer creates new forms. It’s a slow process—warm wax is heavy and deform the shapes. It needs to cool down between dippings, be held, corrected, to create the desired shape. It is a joint effort between the designer and the wax.
Each original is then cast in aluminium using the lost wax method. The mold is destroyed; the metal remains. The result is a series of unique objects—fluid traces of the ephemeral, captured in permanence. There is a quiet poetry in this transformation: hot and cold, soft and solid, perishable and eternal. A conversation between hand, material, and time.The temporary is given new life, the forgotten becomes valuable. In this circular process, aluminium becomes a permanent memory of something fleeting. The project highlights the designer’s role as both observer and agent within the interplay of consumption, production, and value. By allowing the intrinsic qualities of the materials to meet— the recycled and recyclable. Durable forever, hard, cold, hot, soft and volatile —a poetic narrative of sustainability and transformation begins to unfold.
Photo Matilda Warme
Photo Stina Henriksson
Photo Stina Henriksson
Photo Matilda Warme
Wax original, from the Hook me up exhibition, Photo Luisa Thomsen
From the Hook me up exhibition, Photo Luisa Thomsen
From the Hook me up exhibition, Photo Luisa Thomsen
From the Hook me up exhibition, Photo Luisa Thomsen
Lost wax casting, Casting and photos by Ludvig Ödman.
Photo David Möller
Photo David Möller
From the exhibition Väntrum 2025 curated by Stina Henriksson and My Comét, Photo Matilda Warme
Photo david Möller
Meltable side table, vase and burned candelabra.
Wax dipping. Objects are made with traditional and experimental processes of candle making. Our use of candles generate large amounts of leftovers and inspiration comes from the durability of the material contrasting to our use of it.