Design of the Day spotlights a design thing our editors are coveting right now (and why you should be, too).
American design has gotten a lot of flak lately—but, as with any discipline, there’s always a diamond or two in the rough. One particular sparkle comes from Chris Wolston, a 30-year-old who divides his time between New York and Medellín, Colombia. While studying pre-Columbian ceramics and brickmaking, he met a crew of artisans who specialize in sand-casting. Smitten with their lo-tech process—which involves melting jettisoned metal scraps and pouring the liquid into voids made in mounds of sand—Wolston adapted it to make his latest body of work, on view at The Future Perfect in New York beginning May 18. This wacky aluminum vessel called Lipstick Vase, anodized to achieve its glam-magenta hue, exemplifies one of sand-casting’s virtues: Imprints of the sand create a satisfyingly raw, grainy texture that complements the object’s crude spaceship-like shape. Its glittery exterior is less about securing a spot in your next Instagram story (though it probably will)—instead, it’s an inventive kind of eye candy worth indulging in, and leaves you wanting more.
