When materials switch roles

Metamorphosis explores the dialogue between two seemingly opposite materials — rubber and glass. In this sculpture, glass artist Jonas Torstensson reverses their usual roles, turning permanence into softness and flexibility into stone.

The work is part of Swedish Tyre Recycling's initiative Art of Recycling, in which artists are invited to interpret tyre recycling through their own creative practices. Jonas Torstensson, a Stockholm-based designer and glass artist known for exploring glass as an expressive material, brings that practice into contact with recycled tyre rubber. In the piece, rubber — usually soft and flexible — takes on a solid, stone-like form, while the glass surface appears to soften, moulding itself around the rubber cobblestone beneath.

"Working on Metamorphosis was a learning journey. While glass is a material I know intimately, incorporating recycled rubber and binders introduced new challenges and insights. The process itself became part of the artistic expression — a conversation between experience and experimentation," says Jonas.

Through this transformation, Jonas Torstensson invites viewers to reflect on how materials hold untapped expressions within them, waiting to be discovered by those willing to experiment.

Metamorphosis is a poetic reflection on transformation — a reminder that change is possible not only in materials, but in how we choose to see the world around them.

Discover Metamorphosis and read more about Jonas Torstensson
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