We went into Dutch Design Week with a simple intention, to show that sustainability can be playful, joyful and seductive. It was our first time at Studio LoopLoop working with Hydro’s 100R, aluminium made from one hundred percent recycled post-consumer scrap, and we decided to push it in two directions at once, a large pendant we call the Color Cannon, and a small, fun seat we call the Alice Stool.
The Color Cannon
The color cannon is a big pendant lamp, essentially a simple aluminium body made large enough to become a presence in the room. The name comes from its scale and from the amount of color it holds.
We gave it a double gradient using our Magic Color Machine, the custom anodizing rig we built in the studio. We have used that machine for years to create precise color effects on aluminium, but this was our first pass doing it on 100R and at this scale.
Our setup is computer controlled, which means we can program the motion and the timing of each dip with a lot of detail. The piece goes into the dye slowly at first, then faster as it descends, so the exposure time increases along the length. That timing curve builds the first gradient. To create the second gradient, we remove the part, flip it, and repeat in a second bath. Two directions, two speed profiles, one continuous body, that is how the double gradient locks in. It sounds technical, but the point is simple, we can draw with computer-timed controls rather than with a brush.
What the machine lets us do
Anodizing is often treated as a binary step, either on or off, natural or dyed. Our rig breaks that habit. Because the dipping station is programmed, we can change dwell time in tiny increments, we can stage the immersion in steps so small you do not perceive them as steps, and we can repeat the motion from the other side to blend transitions. It is a way to bring nuance into a very industrial process. On the Color Cannon that nuance reads as a calm shift, which feels right for recycled material.
The Alice Stool
If the pendant is about scale and precision, the Alice Stool is about play and patience. It pairs an aluminium frame in 100R with a soft seat finished in alpaca wool, the contrast in texture makes the small object feel generous.
What makes it unusual is again the color, the aluminium surfaces are dyed with natural pigments rather than the usual synthetic dyes. It is a direction we have been researching for some time, asking whether plant-based colors can replace standard anodizing dyes, and whether that can be done in a way industry can adopt. Dutch Design Week was the first time we showed those natural dyes on 100R in a finished object.
We grew and gathered a palette in the studio, then extended it with ingredients that are common in the textile world. Yellow onion skins gave us warm golds, and we explored both solid fields and gentle gradients on aluminium test strips before committing to parts. We also blended colors from sources like rosetta and rose madder and used a wood-derived dye that produced a deep purple. The stool was the perfect place to show those differences next to each other, like a swatch book made into a seat.
The nice thing for the industry is that many of these pigments are already available off the shelf for textiles, and they come with certifications, which means there is already a framework for sourcing and safety. Translating them to aluminium requires care, especially with bath chemistry and fixation, but it is not science fiction. That is part of why we made the Alice Stool, to start that conversation with manufacturers who might be curious but cautious.
Accepting variability
A question that always comes up with natural color is consistency. Textile people know this well, the same plant gives slightly different hues from year to year, from place to place. I think we can embrace part of that in aluminium, much like how wine drinkers embrace terroir. Once people know a tone comes from an onion or a root, they often accept small variations because the origin story is visible. Not every product needs hyper high performance color matching. Sometimes the right specification is emotional connection and traceability, and the Alice Stool helped us make that case in public.
What’s next?
Our dream is to source and grow a larger share of our pigment locally, to bring the color loop closer to the studio and to the objects. In parallel, we want to keep testing how far natural dyes can be standardized for aluminium in an industrial setting. None of that happens alone, so we are open about our methods and our mistakes. The more people try it, the faster we can find the right balance between process control and the charm of nature. For now, I am happy that during Dutch Design Week, in a busy room, a big pendant carried two smashing gradients, and a small stool carried many joyful ones. That felt like a good start.
