jesper eriksson reveals furniture collection made from 'coal marble'

london-based artist and designer jesper eriksson has created a new furniture collection that employs his process of turning coal into marble. the collection, which proposes the finite fossil fuel as a desirable material, features side tables, chairs, stools, a console and a dining table.

images courtesy of jesper eriksson

jesper eriksson sources his coal from a mine in wales, where the coal produced is a form called anthracite. anthracite is between 90% to 95% carbon, which makes it harder and thus easier to work with than other forms of coal. using a diamond-edged blade he creates smooth surfaces where necessary and favours raw edges where possible, before finishing each piece with a natural stone sealant. the collection is currently on show at the mint, a design gallery in south kensington in london.

the designer previously explained to designboom his decision to work with coal, mentioning his concerns over collective memory and the loss of a material that was ubiquitous in the 19th and 20th centuries. by using coal as an organic material to create furniture, eriksson wants to form an alternative narrative to its existing historical, socio-economical or cultural contexts.

designboom first discovered eriksson’s ‘coal marble’ during the london design biennale in 2018, where he represented sweden. showcasing a future alternative use for coal, he presented floors, furniture and installation pieces in solid coal, wanting to open up a debate about human’s relationship with the utilitarian substance.

once championed for its potential as an energy source, the fossil fuel is today deemed dirty and redundant. in the UK, the government has announced they will stop burning coal for energy production by 2025, and in the US, renewable energy usage recently surpassed coal for the first time ever.

‘problematic, glorious, scandalous, essential—coal has many facets to it’, eriksson said. ‘coal has sustained communities and enabled technological progress, all the while polluting and harming health of those who work it.’

‘it is so engrained in our minds that coal is a fuel that is dirty, cheap and environmentally harmful. by a simple change in its assigned use/function; all of these attributes we take as invariable are flipped upside down. the material’s meaning is changed.’