Red mud tiles

Imagine a world where manufacturing is so efficient that waste products become coveted material resources. UK-based design group ThusThat is exploring just this reality with its research into ‘red mud’ – a by-product of the aluminium production process.

The studio’s Kevin Rouff and Luis Paco Böckelmann have been studying this curious and previously fairly neglected by-product of industry. ‘To make aluminium, alumina needs to be extracted from bauxite ore. The residue of this refining process is red mud, also known as bauxite residue,’ says Rouff. ‘Decades of research are