Design Concrete
Our basis for everything
Concrete is the fascinating material that everything revolves around in our workshop.
Removing the workpiece from its mold is a very special moment for us every time. Shades, streaks and colorations are as random as the annual rings of a tree. It is this randomness that makes every piece unique.
But what exactly is concrete made of? Concrete is a mixture of cement, sand and water, which sounds quite simple at first. However, this result would be a concrete that does not even begin to meet the requirements of our unique designs.
In order to produce products of our quality, we need a concrete mix that produces a surface with as few pores as possible and a very smooth surface at the same time.
All beginnings
are difficult
The road to the perfect mix was long and troublesome. With a lot of "try and error" and a great amount of tenacity, we mixed, produced and disposed almost half a ton of concrete in the early years. But it was worth it, in the end we found "our recipe".
It was a bit like Edison, the inventor of the light bulb. He found a thousand ways to make a light bulb not work, but he also found the one method that worked!
Progress and
Further development
Over time, the formula for our high-strength concrete has been further refined and improved with each batch produced. We have now developed a concrete mix that produces products with fantastic surfaces and fantastic technical properties.
If run your fingers over our product surfaces with your eyes closed, you would probably think you were touching glass, the surfaces are so mirror-smooth. As we produce design accessories for the living area, this feature was very important to us from the very beginning, as the items should be shown to their best advantage in your living space and be a real hand flatterer.
The raw material quality
for design concrete
We only use the highest quality raw materials, as we also use our products ourselves and know from experience that the quality of the end product is actually the sum of the quality of each individual component.
Saving on just one ingredient has a huge impact on the result and the product.
The surcharge
it all depends on the grain size
The cement paste matrix plays a very important role in high-strength concrete. It is the combination of the binding agent cement, numerous fillers and aggregates and water. The cement paste that forms during the mixing process coats the aggregates and bonds them together.
The aim is to achieve structural compaction. The more compact and seamless this cement paste matrix is, the denser, stronger and more durable the product made from this concrete will be.
We use aggregates from regional gravel pits located around our factory. The grains are sieved according to our grading curves, as we use a precisely defined grain size range.
In addition, fillers are added to our concrete mix, which are also precisely defined by particle size in order to achieve a high structural density. This factor is also crucial for achieving the very low-porosity surfaces that are so important to us.
The cement
high-purity quality
We only use high-purity, high-performance cement. The price of these cements is 5 times higher than that of classic gray cement. We have found that it is worth using high-purity cement if you want to achieve great and long-lasting products.
The recipe
years of optimization
The raw materials and basic ingredients are one thing, the perfect dosage and optimization of the many ingredients is another.
The numerous raw materials are mixed and processed in coordinated quantities and sequences in our high-performance mixer.
The decisive factor is that the ingredients must be precisely balanced so that all factors and processes interact in the best possible way and support each other.
The follow-up treatment
urgently needed
Careful curing of the concrete is also particularly important for strength development. Did you know that concrete only has the technical properties shown on the data sheet after 28 days?
The sealing
Safe is safe
Concrete is by nature a very porous and absorbent material. This is not always an advantage for products that are in your living room or that you pick up every day. Hand cream, grease, dirt - anything that came into contact with the concrete would be sucked in and remain as a stain. For this reason, we impregnate and seal our concrete in a two-stage process to protect the surface from dirt and to preserve the velvety-soft feel of the material. This prevents dirt and water from penetrating the concrete surface.
Technical
Details
Our specially developed concrete falls into the UHPC (ultra high performance concrete) category. This type of concrete exceeds the technical and visual properties of standard concrete, such as that used in building construction, many times.
Advantages of our concrete has over conventional concrete: .
Higher strength -> This allows filigree and thin products to be manufactured with lower material and energy consumption
Higher structural density and therefore water resistance -> important for planters and outdoor products
Fewer air pockets/pores on the surface -> Products that are a pleasure to hold
Greater wear resistance due to harder surfaces -> Sustainable and durable product quality
If you would like to see our design concrete in action,
then take a look around our online store
