Cologne 2010: at imm Cologne earlier this month French designer Julien Renault presented a collection of aluminium furniture made with forging techniques normally applied to steel.

Called Hand Forged, the lightweight stools and tables are sand-blasted and anodised.

The project was one of three winners at this year's [D3] contest at imm Cologne. See the other winners and exhibitors in our earlier story.

We’ll post the movies from the Dezeentalks soon, including Renault interviewed by Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs.

Here's some more information from the designer:

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This project is inspired from the art and work of forging steel. My objective was to source inspiration in these archetypal processes and techniques and apply them to aluminium, a more contemporary and suitable material.

The result is a series of surprisingly lightweight and versatile objects. The project results in a family of items that associate standard aluminium extrusions with elements made using forgery skills and details.

The use of aluminium enables anodisation, a durable and appropriate surface finish.

Before this finishing touch, the aluminium parts have been sand gritted in order to obtain a rather rough texture, emphasizing the surface qualities usually found in steel.

These objects are a dialogue between industry standards and near-craft techniques, mixed into one-another in order to obtain durable, comfortable and insightful products.

VERY LOW STOOL
H34 L38 D 30
1.5 KG

LOW STOOL
H42 L46 D28
2.7 KG

HIGH STOOL
H69 L38 D30
2.8 KG

TABLE
H75 L73 D73
10 KG