Magnetic Dust and Unfolded were exhibited as part of the curated Material Lab Prize 2025 at Pratt Institute, New York. The annual exhibition celebrates experimental approaches to materiality, craft, and sustainability across disciplines.

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Magnetic Dust received an Honorable Mention for its exploration of transformation, waste, and the unexpected behaviors of matter. The project reclaims steel dust — a byproduct of metal fabrication — to create handmade papers with magnetic properties. Fine steel residue collected from Pratt Institute’s Production Labs is blended with recycled white paper pulp and formed through sifting, mixing, and hand-pulling. The rust-colored tone emerges not from pigment but from the natural oxidation of embedded steel, giving each sheet a living, shifting quality. The magnetic response was not engineered but discovered, turning material recovery into an inquiry into unpredictability and the poetic potential of residue.

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Unfolded extends this investigation into material behavior through a sculptural lighting piece made from folded and welded steel sheets. Developed through iterative processes of cutting, bending, and balancing, the work explores the tension between rigidity and lightness, structure and gesture. When illuminated, its form reveals traces of fabrication — the hand’s precision, imperfection, and rhythm — transforming industrial material into a vessel of sensorial experience.

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Together, these works reflect an ongoing inquiry into transformation through design — where making becomes both method and reflection, and materials act as collaborators in revealing their own possibilities.