SHAHAR LIVNE
CONCEPTUAL MATERIAL DESIGNER

Livne's collection of urns is an ode to this forgotten material. Each explores different strands of gutta-percha’s history – the animist beliefs of the tribes who harvested it, the colonial methods of extracting it, the botanical scholarship that documented it, and the legal and technical developments that carried it from the nineteenth century to today. As objects of loss and mourning, the urns pay tribute to this forgotten material and its rich place in human history.

THE MOST FORGOTTEN MATERIAL

Gutta-percha  – a natural latex harvested from trees native to Southeast Asia – was among the most widely used materials of the nineteenth century. Today, it exists in obscurity – the ecological and collective knowledge of its history in danger of being lost to human memory.

Made by combining handwork with new technologies, the urns contain an inner core of gutta-percha encased in an SLA-printed resin shell that acts as both capsule and future “ghost” as the core material deteriorates and deforms over time.

The project was born of deep research and collective knowledge, with Livne interviewing specialists in botany, conservation, and journalism. 
Their stories may be heard here.