Mumbai-based rockpaperscissors indulges in the joyful making of small-scale objects through studying the boundaries of material characteristics and experimenting with the idea of a closed loop within their sites to reduce the overall footprint of design practice. This material lab was established in 2018 alongside its architecture and interior design counterpart, Studio Tessera, by Sagarika Suri. Their dedicated explorations with waste plywood have resulted in elegantly bare objects as part of their collection – Liquidply.
The material lab, rockpaperscissors, offers itself as a playground to understand the properties and extremities of common and uncommon building materials within the larger practice, Studio Tessera, established in parallel in 2018 by Sagarika Suri. The practice explores themes of materiality and geometry through various outlets that include planning, architecture, interior design and objects in the small scale – therefore benefitting immensely from a workshop-studio model. The lab was born out of Sagarika’s mixed curiosity in materials and the small-scale. Having a material lab allows one to conduct these smaller experiments without losing out on much time, which works comfortably in tandem with the larger studio. As an architect, one can be familiar with building materials but a hands-on interaction is always more telling on the qualities of the material.
A drawing illustrating the turned plywood lamp fabrication process.We are interested in understanding materials intimately to gain insights into their properties, processes that create and alter them, breaking points, geometrical logic and potentials to be sustainable. This leads us to explorations ranging from isolated details to complete objects.
Sagarika Suri
The sites of the architecture and interior design studio inform the material lab by offering themselves as spaces to encounter and question construction materials. The first explorations of the lab had their motivations in sustainability. When completing larger projects, there was a lot of waste plywood generated. Enticed by the possibility of elongating the life of this waste material, Sagarika decided to experiment with upcycling the pieces into objects that could become functional elements in design. The idea of a collection resembling Liquidply was only a realisation after repeated iterations resulted in a successful set of retail-ready products.
The challenge, which Sagarika views more as an opportunity, is the raw material that they have committed to upcycle. The objects designed can only come to life if the size and grain of the waste plywood allows it. After designing the object and assessing the plywood available, similar-sized plywood pieces are formed into a monolithic block. This assembly process transforms the separate pieces into a fresh material that can be altered by the lathe. Several opportunities arise in the process of carving it. The juxtaposition of varying cross-sectional grains of the plywood is curated very deliberately in the lab which reveals the meandering language seen through the collection. In several objects of the collection, it is observed that the grains of the plywood compliment the form of the object.
The table legs have vertical grains that become wider as they appear to hug the table top giving them a sense of sturdy support; the grains in the spherical lamp follow a circular language that accentuate the geometry and symmetry of the lamp; in case of the conical lamps the grains in all the segments arch toward the bottom, except the bottom most segment which arches toward the top, capping the lamp to hold it from the bottom. When one observes the collection, from afar there is a fixed nature but upon looking closely, the flow of the grain is revealed which tells a story of its own. Plywood covered with more presentable veneers and laminates is used widely in construction since it is familiar, seemingly simple and inexpensive. rockpaperscissors has approached it with great care and thoughtful design by boldly exposing and playing with the undulating composition.
The execution process is multifaceted and includes various experts getting involved. In the long run the lab aims to form a larger collective of designers who are generous enough to contribute waste plywood from their sites. This kind of engagement cuts a section across craftspeople, vendors and designers alike where each of them contribute and in turn are enlightened to the understanding of the material. The material lab therefore gives back to the architecture and interior design practice by enabling one to understand the miniscule details that tie a project together. The lab has a team of second-generation carpenters which facilitates a shorter feedback loop when designing new prototypes. For a product such as a lamp, the team includes collaborators like a fabricator who can assemble a suitable stand, an electrician who can share their expertise to facilitate the light fixture and a polisher who can bring out the unique language of the grain in the wood. The process is not linear but more collaborative.
At rockpaperscissors, their approach towards sustainability is two-fold. Firstly, there is the idea of the closed loop.
What we’ve started as modest experiments in upcycling wood and plywood waste from our own projects has the potential to become widespread especially through digital platforms by gaining access to inventories from sites and workshops across the city.
Sagarika Suri
Secondly, there is the challenging task of ‘transformation through design’. It is one thing to endeavour to upcycle waste and give the material a second life, but removing its associations with waste is something that has been tackled elegantly through attentive design. Wood as a material has a very sturdy, solid and hard feel. However, in the Liquidply collection, a fluidity in introduced. The plywood stripped of its envelope reveals the grain making the wood feel rawer and more fibrous. The finish is polished yet honest. The material formulated through the elaborate process at rockpaperscissors has made the plywood malleable – giving the designer the freedom to create sleek or sturdy objects using the same material. The objects as a result translate as installations of wooden droplets, caught in free flow.
It is exciting for any designer to experience the final product that they have worked towards. However, in architecture, this is reserved for months after the initial conceptual design occurs and one usually does not have the chance to alter the initial idea after completion. In the small-scale the turnaround period is much quicker which enables the designer to hold and experience the product and still have the chance to reiterate and smoothen the use of the same. While large scale interventions offer an enclosure and can curate a space, objects in the small scale are more intimate. At the core, objects at this scale carry the opportunity to bridge the gap between a designer and the user since they are the elements that one interacts with on a more personal basis. rockpaperscissors has employed a lens of craft to an ordinary material like plywood to curate it into a collection of functional objects. These objects are unique subsequent to the fact that the final product is very proudly and candidly a reflection of the intensive process and rigorous enquiry of material that led to it and therefore communicates the same to the user and designer alike.
SAGARIKA SURI, a practicing architect and urban designer in Mumbai, has recently set up Studio Tessera. The studio has diverse interests in planning, architecture, interior and furniture projects and is passionate about material and technology as much as planning and building typology. The studio believes that working at several scales simultaneously enhances the project and the practice.
Before setting up her own practice, Sagarika worked with Mumbai based firm Malik Architecture and Delhi based Stephane Paumier Architects on several large-scale housing development and institutional projects. She is also a part of CSA-Collective for Spatial Alternatives and has been engaged in self-development and low cost housing projects in Mumbai.
Sagarika completed her Bachelor of Architecture degree from CEPT, Ahmedabad, India in 2006 and graduated with a SMArchS (Master of Architecture) degree in Urbanism from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA in 2011.
rockpaperscissors is set up as a material lab for the studio to experiment with ideas and concepts at a smaller scale. From assembling complete objects to developing isolated details, the lab explores materials intimately, to gain a practical understanding of their physical properties, processes that create them and those that alter them, breaking points, geometrical logics, and potentials to be sustainable. rockpaperscissors is presently working with plywood, paper, resin, concrete, glass and cloth.
