Water fountain

Artist and designer Yasmin Bawa teams with Axor to get both sculptural and functional with hempcrete

- ROSA BERTOLI

If you know anything about hempcrete, it’s probably because of Yasmin Bawa. The Berlin-based artist and designer has become a sort of spokesperson for the hemp-based composite material, demonstrating its potential in a quiet but appealing way.

Bawa discovered hempcrete a few years ago and was instantly hooked. The former accessories designer had left her job at fashion brand Acne in 2015 to pursue personal creative projects, moving from Stockholm to Berlin. ‘I used this time to research what I wanted to create. What inspired me was this grey zone between art, sculpture and functional design, creating objects that fit both the physical and poetic needs of the user.’

She started looking into alternative materials for sculpting, and discovered hempcrete while researching house construction online (‘I have larger dreams of building a house,’ she says). A family had built their home in hempcrete with pleasing results: ‘The house itself and the quality of the lime plaster finishes were just beautiful,’ recalls Bawa.

Hempcrete is a mixture of hemp, one of the world’s strongest natural fibres, with clay and lime binder. Industrial hemp (varieties grown for non-drug use) requires approximately half the water needed to grow cotton, and its plant absorbs more carbon dioxide per hectare than trees: an environmental win-win.