Neo Stone Age – Erco Lai

Can limescale become an all-purpose building material? We often see limescale as a nuisance or even as something dirty. But with some imagination it becomes a building material with the character of sandstone.

Calcium-carbonate is a common material widespread on earth. An everyday variant of calcium-carbonate is limescale. This is a matter that we find in our water, yet it is often overlooked and discarded. Designer Erco Lai invites us to look at the material differently. He proposes it to be a promising raw material with various useful applications. Through a chemical process imitated from nature, he managed to bind it to a solid material that reminds us of ancient limestone caves. Moreover, according to Erco Lai, it would be possible to domestically harvest and process limescale. Welcome to your own new stone age.

Erco Lai (TW) is an versatile designer who graduated from Industrial Design at KABK in The Hague. He has a particular interest for unique materials and fabrication. Through playful experimentation, he searches for new applications that are both functional and imaginative.