Prima Materia
Earth, water, fire, air and space — five elements that shape the world around us as well as the world within us. At this year’s Designblok, we transform them into five interactive objects in collaboration with JRD, a developer that has long been committed to healthy, sustainable living rooted in a regenerative approach and harmony with the natural world. The Prima Materia installation invites visitors into an alchemical laboratory, where laboratory glass meets natural materials, and precision meets the rawness of primordial matter.
Each of the five elements is affected by pollution today. And yet, they all retain the ability to regenerate — a capacity that offers hope and reminds us why we need to pay much closer attention to them. This is true of the elements around us as much as those within us. Nature, meanwhile, is showing us the power of these elements with ever greater urgency.
Prima Materia, the primordial matter, was for alchemists the fundamental substance from which transformation could emerge. We conceived it as a laboratory where the elements can be set in motion, made to resonate, purified, and reveal their regenerative potential.
The five interactive objects are built around a dialogue between two material worlds. Laboratory elements of glass and metal — precise and associated with science and measurement — encounter earth, water, wax and wood. Here, the visitor is not a spectator, but the one who sets the experiment in motion.
