Irma Schlaucher Ståhl

An imitation of a material is usually associated with a lower value. It could partly be because materials linked to permanence and aging are often seen as something more exclusive. In materials such as stone and wood, we can often see a trace of time. It can be seen through the growth rings in different types of wood or in the patterns formed in rocks by magma that solidified in the Earth’s crust over time.

In my degree project, I want to question how we value different materials and material imitations in relation to their age, execution and location. By juxtaposing original materials with distorted copies, the materials communicate with each other thus creating an enhanced imitation. In this project, I investigate how we value materials, based on the idea of the material as something considered as genuine or fake and what is possible within the limitations of an imitation.