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How Michael Aram’s Molten Metal Collection is Made

American born artist and designer Michael Aram has launched a new collection where he explores metal in a whole new way. Much like painter Jackson Pollack would splatter paint across a canvas, Aram drips hot molten metal on top of curved forms and flat planes to make up a collection of objects he calls After the Storm. The series was inspired after Aram witnessed a storm with torrential rains while watching from the window. Once the storm passed, a new sense of calm and beauty filled the outdoors while also leaving wreckage behind, like branches, leaves, and mud. The haphazardness and spontaneity is captured in each of the collection’s pieces. In this month’s Deconstruction, we take a look at his process of creating one of the vases.

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Michael’s fascination with splatter began at the forge.

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He begins experimenting with splatter and imagining how he can create a collection based off of it.

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This is his first experimentation with shaping the splatter.

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This is the original sketch of the vase, which began his After the Storm collection.

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First, the liquid metal is drawn from the furnace.

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This is the metal armature used to shape the splatter into the form of a vase.

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The molten metal is poured onto the armature.

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The fixture is turned while the molten metal is poured, slowly forming a shape.

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Then, the sharp points are filed off.

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After filing, the piece is leveled so that it sits flatly.

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Final “After the Storm” vase on white marble

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Caroline Williamson is Editor-in-Chief of Design Milk. She has a BFA in photography from SCAD and can usually be found searching for vintage wares, doing New York Times crossword puzzles in pen, or reworking playlists on Spotify.