Studio Marte Mei
Marte Mei van Haaster (NL, 1992) is a designer based in Amsterdam. Her practice is centred around allyship with nature. She translates site-specific research into tangible and unique custom handcrafted pieces, using her design methodology; Land-Allyship. Through this approach, she explores how, as a designer, we can collaborate with nature in creating pieces. Her site-specific approach to materials and crafts result in unique pieces and interiors that aim to connect a person to their surroundings. Viewing materials as part of an ecosystem, a cycle, to which they once belonged and one day may return.
Companion species cabinet is a puzzle made from beech, pine and ceramics.
The ceramics are glazed with wood ash from the same two tree species.
The green-tones come from the different regions the trees have grown, as they are a result of the nutrients the tree has absorbed.
Beech and Pine are companion species: they thrive when growing side by side. The work imagines the human as a potential third companion species, as it investigates the power dynamics, as well as mutually beneficial relationships, between trees and their caretakers in a production forest. The modularity of the ceramic pieces emphasises how design choices impact the landscape indirectly, using whatever wood is the result from healthy diverse forest.