• ABOUT THE PROJECT

    Post Objects candles come from the experiments of Liz Wycherley and Simon Oosterdijk. The work draws on ceramic carving and casting techniques, procedural modelling and a shared interest in archetypal forms. Everything is handmade: poured, trimmed, and demoulded one at a time, in their New Zealand forest studio. Their work has led to collaborations with SSENSE, Completedworks, and Monument Gallery London.

    "We wanted a way to make it possible for other people to live with these forms too. Wax as a material choice achieves that. We started using it to cast duplicates of our favourite pieces. These objects have a strange grip on the subconscious. To me they're talismans, a visual reminder on my shelf.

    Working in wax also solves something for me, I'm driven to make things with my hands, but I don't want to add to the clutter of the world. Wax disappears. I find that genuinely poetic, and it's what makes lighting them a really interesting choice."

1. The "Flow" Collection,
how its made.

We began by collecting material behaviors, honey folding into itself, lava cooling at the edges, mud pools bubbling. Identifying the ones that might translate into a solid form.

2. Setting Up the Simulation

Those references were fed into a fluid dynamics simulation. Instead of designing a shape, we change conditions: Should it spin as it drops, should the viscosity be unstable, should surface tension be pushed higher?

3. Choosing What’s Made

When a simulation looks promising, we check if it can actually be produced: Will it demold cleanly, are there undercuts that make it impossible, is the form structurally balanced enough to hold its shape.

4. Printing the Master

Our chosen form is printed in resin, layer by layer. Once printed, the piece is sanded and refined. Whatever exists on this surface will be reproduced forever.

5. Making the Mold

A custom 3D printed mold box holds the master. Silicone gets poured around it. We have had leaks, blowouts, and batches of silicone that went straight onto the floor. It is more controlled now, but there is always some uncertainty.

2. Pouring the Wax

With the mold ready, wax is heated and the wick is threaded. The room stays at a stable temperature so the form sets cleanly. It is a simple step on paper, but wax has its own behaviour, and we adjust as we go.

3. Demolding

Demolding is tense for the first prototype, after that it is our favourite part. We peel the mold back slowly and hope the form releases in one piece. If it does, great. If it does not, we start again.

4. The Finished Object

Once a piece comes out clean, it is trimmed, checked, and refined. The wick is cut. The base is tidied. Then we run burn tests. That is the final step before it becomes a finished object.

The makers: Liz Wycherley & Simon Oosterdijk

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