If Hansel and Gretel had taken place in the XXI century, they would have had serious indigestion. A house made out of ginger bread? Not at all energy efficient! Let’s glue some XPS on the wall and the witch will save money on taxes. 

Foam is nowadays the most used material in the construction industry. In can take any shape, be hard enough to carry a whole house or expandable to fill any mouse hole. Still, its strange texture and lovely candy colours are never visible. There’s an awkwardness that in order to reach a sustainable future, we build and live in plastic. Skumfidus celebrates this contradiction, finally inviting foam to the stage, pushing its incredible formal possibilities to a joyful lavender explosion.

Our clean architect’s office is turning into a candy coloured cave. A bit of insulation is stolen from the construction site in order to produce one more prototype. Cut, hack, melt, glue, bite, scratch, a purple cloud floats in the atelier from the hot-wire cutting. Sitting in our not-yet-so-comfortable mock ups of chaise longues, we almost feel as if in an opium den. An escape from the never-ending building projects into the quick and free world of foam.

The stacking of foam plates shapes a family of objects. Low and long vases, high vases, vases that might be stools, tables that be vases, and of course, a much needed chaise longue and its ottoman. MacIver-Ek Chevroulet explores the unexpected potential of this overlooked material. Smooth as velvet, hard as concrete and light as a feather, I am dreaming of a slice of Skumfidus for dessert.

Team: Axel Chevroulet, Anna MacIver-Ek