MEMORIAL

DESCRIPTION

MEMORIAL was created for Chushkopek: Stories with an Open End at Melba Design Festival 2025, an exhibition inviting artists and designers to reinterpret the iconic Bulgarian appliance. Developed in the months leading up to Bulgaria's transition from the lev to the euro, the project explores transformation, memory, and cultural identity through a series of cast coins created using a modified chushkopek as a furnace, each representing a different symbol from Bulgarian history.

CATEGORY

RESEARCH PROJECT

MATERIAL

ALUMINIUM, TIN, NICKEL, BRASS, COPPER

YEAR

2025

CONCEPT

MEMORIAL investigates an unconventional use of the chushkopek - an iconic Bulgarian household appliance traditionally used for roasting peppers - which, during Bulgaria's post-socialist transition towards democracy in the 1990s, was often repurposed as a makeshift metal casting furnace. In a period marked by scarcity and adaptation, Bulgarian lev coins became one of the most common sources of metal for casting, valued more for their metal content than for their monetary worth.

Developed on the eve of another national transition - the replacement of the lev with the euro - the project draws a parallel between these two historical moments. Faced with the imminent disappearance of the lev from everyday life, we chose to reverse the gesture of the 1990s: rather than melting coins, we cast a new collection of them. Using the familiar format of the lev coin, the project explores questions of memory, cultural value, and national identity. Together, the 52 coins form a chronological narrative of Bulgarian history, transforming the coin from an object of exchange into a carrier of collective memory.

RESEARCH

The research developed in two directions: material experimentation and historical investigation.

The material research focused on the chushkopek as a metal furnace. We explored its capabilities and limitations through a series of casting experiments, testing different metals, alloys, and modifications while adapting lost-wax casting techniques to create our own casting system.

The historical research focused on examining different periods of Bulgarian history and exploring questions of national identity and collective memory. Through discussions with people from different generations, we gathered perspectives on the symbols, events, places, and figures most strongly associated with Bulgaria. The final selection combines celebrated cultural references with more ironic, critical, and contradictory ones, reflecting the complexity of Bulgarian identity and its evolution over time.

PROCESS

The process began with a chushkopek borrowed from one of our grandmothers, which became the starting point for a series of casting experiments. Equipped with a graphite crucible and informed by historical accounts of the appliance's use as a furnace, we set out to investigate its potential as a tool for metal casting.

CASTING

The casting setup was developed by borrowing principles from traditional jewellery casting and reinterpreting them through custom-made tools and components. We fabricated our own flask from stainless steel tubing, developed 3D-printed elements for constructing the wax tree and replacing the silicone cap traditionally used in jewellery casting, and tested various mould materials in order to establish a reliable and affordable lost-wax casting process.

ALLOYS

A series of material experiments followed, testing different metals and custom alloys including aluminium, copper, brass, tin, and silver. These experiments helped us understand both the capabilities and limitations of the chushkopek, revealing its temperature threshold and the distinct casting properties of different materials.

THE COLLECTION

The final coin collection was cast in a tin-based alloy, selected for its ability to capture the fine details required by the coin format.

OUTCOME

The final outcome is a collection of 52 cast coins, produced using the experimental casting setup developed in our studio specifically for the project and presented as a memorial collection.

Beyond the collection itself, the project led to the development of a complete casting setup that remains part of our studio practice, revealing that even complex techniques such as lost-wax casting can become accessible through experimentation, resourcefulness, and curiosity.