The closure of the Iföverken ceramic insulator factory left behind more than abandoned buildings. It left materials, infrastructures, memories and forms of knowledge that once shaped the identity of the place.
Rather than asking how this waste can simply be removed or recycled, this investigation asks how these industrial remnants can continue to participate in the cultural and ecological life of the community.
The project regrounds waste as a local resource and regeneration as a process that connects environmental responsibility with history, making and collective participation.
Investigation
Waste to Resource investigates how industrial silicate waste can become the foundation for new environmental and cultural systems.
Working directly within the former Iföverken factory, I developed new ceramic clay bodies and material recipes from abandoned industrial silicate remnants. These materials are transformed into architectural elements, public infrastructure and everyday objects that reactivate relationships between materials, people and place.
The investigation is not limited to developing new ceramic recipes. It explores how material transformation can simultaneously regenerate local identity, support artistic production, activate community participation and reveal longer geological and industrial histories embedded within the landscape.
Rather than treating waste as the end of a material cycle, the project understands it as the beginning of a new one.
2024
Waste ↔ Resource
Industry ↔ Ecology
History ↔ Future
Material ↔ Community
Architecture ↔ Landscape
Plants ↔ People
Industrial Heritage ↔ Local Identity
Geology ↔ Culture
Context
AG30 Residency, Ifö Center
CCI4Change
Region Skåne
European Union
Location
Former Iföverken ceramic insulator factory area
Bromölla, Sweden
Material Regeneration
Development of new ceramic clay bodies and material recipes from industrial silicate waste collected across the former factory site.
These recipes establish the material foundation for future artistic production at Ifö Center while demonstrating that local industrial remnants can become valuable contemporary resources.
Iföplants
Their apparent function is to hold plants.
Their deeper function is to activate place.
The large ceramic planters are made from clay bodies developed from industrial silicate remnants collected across the former Iföverken factory site. Filled with compost and hops originating from the factory site, they support the growth of hops associated with Bromölla's brewing history. Together they reconnect geological resources, industrial heritage, vegetation and everyday community life within a single living system.
The ceramic planters establish the material foundation, while the hop structures - designed and created by Ifö Center member Marwan Chamoun - extend the project vertically, allowing the vegetation to gradually transform the entrance of the Art Hall into a living green architecture. As the plants grow, the installation changes season by season, continuously reshaping the character of the place.
Once installed, it began to develop its own life. Artists, visitors and neighbours gradually found new ways of inhabiting it. During the Dias Peru residency, the hop structures became drying racks for artworks. Dancers incorporated the installation into a performance. Visitors gather beside it for conversations and fika. The work continues to change through the actions of plants, weather and people.
Rather than functioning as a static sculpture, IFÖPLANTS operates as an open environmental system in which material, vegetation and community collectively participate in the ongoing regeneration of the site.
IFÖPOT
A series of locally produced pots and bowls developed from reclaimed factory materials.
Inspired by a Bronze Age vessel discovered in Bromölla, the collection connects geological origin, archaeological heritage, industrial history and contemporary craftsmanship within functional everyday objects.
Rather than commemorating the past, IFÖPOT allows local history to continue through daily use while strengthening regional identity.
Waste to Resource expanded my practice from investigating the transformation of individual materials towards investigating the regeneration of places.
By connecting industrial remnants with ecological processes, cultural memory, public participation and everyday use, regeneration becomes a way of reorganising relationships rather than simply recycling resources.
AG30 Residency exhibition at Ifö Center
The show was a joint exhibition with AG30 residency artist Alexandra Fransson.
Background
The project was supported by Ifö Center, region Skåne and the European Union.
Region Skåne has been participating in the Interreg project CCI4Change since 2023, which explores how cultural and creative industries (CCIs) can contribute to changing behaviors and reducing energy consumption. Public authorities, creative actors and civil society collaborate to develop tools and strategies that promote sustainable energy habits.
Learn more about the project in THIS ARTICLE made by Development Skåne.
