Meet the makers of salt and clay printing

Early on, they realized they had something unique to bring to 3D technology. “We both come from rural backgrounds, having grown up outside in the landscape, literally playing in the dirt,” says San Fratello. “We were both able to bring our own lived experiences to this, our own connections to the land and agriculture. This lived experience combined with these amazing technologies, and this is why our practice is different. We bring our love of the land and literally put it through the printer.

Whether it’s a cabin, a brick, a vessel or an art installation, a constant of their work is to rethink natural materials through the prism of technology. A project can be printed from mud, sawdust, salt, or Chardonnay grape skins, all materials that come from the earth. Everything revolves around experimentation, the question “Why not?”

The pair would defy any attempt at categorization, however. As they say on their website, “It would be impossible for us to say that we have a studio philosophy. We just try to keep doing.