Design Map · Eindhoven
Breathing Loam
Graduation project by Isa Ella Irma Gassmann at Design Academy Eindhoven, 2026. Shown during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven on Design Map, location F5.
Can circular building materials become circular furnishings? ‘Breathing Loam’ is a folding screen which explores material properties through transformation and assembly. Inspired by half-timbered façades, the project explores spatial structures that divide space without fully enclosing it. Traditionally, half-timber frameworks combine wood and clay in a structurally and materially interdependent system, creating stable yet visually open structures.
Designer Isa Gassmann brings together solid pine, compressed fibreboard and natural clay, functional architectural materials, and applies them at the scale of furniture. The folding screen‘s calming visual qualities are defined by the wood grain and the exposed joinery. The panels are vapour permeable, allowing them to absorb and release moisture in response to fluctuations in indoor humidity. ‘Breathing Loam‘ examines how the inherent qualities of building materials are retained when incorporated into object design. The resulting design is characterised by texture and vibrancy, while the folding screen is mobile, reversible and inhabitable at the scale of the interior.