jeffrey stephen miller

Ferzom Ceramics is a ceramic materials design and research collective comprised of chemical and thermal engineers and ceramic designers from the VSB-Technical University of Ostrava and CirkArena, an R&D Centre focused on advancing innovation and education in the circular economy. We target high-volume waste streams within Europe to produce 100% waste-based glazes tailored to the ceramic tile industry

The glazes for these tiles are made entirely with waste materials including glass from Schott, one of the leading specialty glass companies in the world, slag from the production of steel, waste from the processing of kaolin at Thun, the Czech Republic's largest porcelain tableware manufacturer, expended refractory brick used in furnaces and kilns, discarded cement and brick from demolition and construction sites, waste sanitary ware and recycled glassware.

Metro tile made from the waste of the London Underground for the London Underground itself.

Tiles are a defining feature of the London Underground, the world's oldest metro system, yet their material origins are often unknown. Typically, virgin resources extracted through open-pit mining are used in production.

To address this issue, these tiles are made from the waste produced during the construction and operation of the London Underground itself. The materials include naturally forming London clay excavated during tunnel boring and iron oxide-rich dust from train wheels grinding against steel tracks.

The tiles are cast from moulds provided by H&E Smith, a tile manufacturer which refurbishes tiles for the London Underground and was originally designed by Leslie Green, the architect behind many iconic London Underground stations in the early 20th century.

From The Underground offers a juxtaposition to the opaque origins and environmental consequences of ubiquitous materials within our built environment.

Collaborators:

VSB - Technical University of Ostrava, Faculty of Materials Science and Technology
Hana Ovčačíková (hana.ovcacikova@vsb.cz), Associate Professor and Junior Researcher, Department of Thermal Engineering

Vlastimil Matějka (vlastimil.matejka@vsb.cz), Associate Professor and Senior Researcher, Deputy Head of Department of Chemistry and Physico-Chemical Processes

Jozef Vlček (jozef.vlcek@vsb.cz), Professor, Senior Researcher and Vice-dean for Cooperation with Industry, Department of Thermal Engineering

This project won the 2023 Maison/0 Green Trail Award https://www.lvmh.com/group/lvmh-commitments/social-environmental-responsibility/maison0/

Dezeen article: https://www.dezeen.com/2023/07/27/london-underground-waste-repurposed-into-tiles-tube-stations-design/

Recycled China is a design team formed by Thomas Schmidt and Jeffrey Stephen Miller. RC is inspired by the rich history of Chinese ceramics and the massive scale of ceramic industry within China today. Their work attempts to give new life to the huge quantity of discarded ceramics and other industrial waste from factories around China by transforming them into original artworks, functional design objects, and architectural tile. Their research lead to a new process of melting and casting recycled aluminum into molds containing crushed ceramic, brick, and glass as an aggregate material. Their discovery revealed that when these materials meet, the molten aluminum flows and curls around the shards and cools immediately, capturing this rapid collision. The resulting textures and compositions are dynamic and unpredictable, and are intended to reflect the dynamic and complex relationship between tradition and industry within China today. 

For more information please visit: www.recycledchina.org

Ceramic decals are used mainly in the large scale production of ceramic ware. They are images that are printed with glaze material and then applied to the surfaces of fired ceramic. The decal is then fired in a kiln and fuses to the surface of the ceramic. This creates a way of quickly making multiples of the same image in larger-scale production. The decals here are produced by factories specializing in the production of popular decal images and patterns for the surfaces of ceramic ware for the Chinese market. Other factories, which produce ceramic vases and tableware then buy these images and use them in their own production. Because these images are standardized by the decal producing factories, many ceramic production factories decide to only use part of the decal image in their products. A bird, a pattern, a poem may be cut away and discarded if it does not fit a particular factory's specifications. I have reused these discarded parts by working with two local paper recyclers who have a small business recycling the paper that the decal image is printed upon. Usually, these recyclers would wash away the decal material from the paper, which ultimately ends up in landfills, potentially causing environmental damage due to the leaching of unfired glaze material. I have then taken these discarded decals and broken them into smaller pieces to focus on the aggregation of the colours and patterns of what was discarded during this time. In addition to a comment on waste in the ceramic industry, I see this work as a documentation of the collective aesthetic choices of factories in Jingdezhen, as they represent what was chosen and then thrown away.

Process and test tiles from research in a mass-production tile factory in Jingdezhen, China. New environmental policies put forth by the government require factories of this scale to filter this material into solid waste for disposal instead of pouring it down the drain. Through a system of internal drainage and filtration devices, the water is filtered and reused while the waste residue is solidified and discarded. I have been experimenting with reusing this waste material.

Using VR hand-tracking technology, I have documented the gestures of qinghua glaze painters from Jingdezhen. China. The program senses and tracks the hand of the painter as they work around the vessel, creating a ghost image of the vase from the gestures of the artisan. Qinghua first originated in the Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368). The continuing tradition of this cobalt painting has been handed down by different generations of craftsmen in the area. Recently, the central government has designated Jingdezhen to receive an increase of funding for ceramics. However, much of this funding goes towards so-called modernization efforts, and newer automated factories are being built. I was curious about where the rise of new technologies leaves some of the traditional craftspeople in the area and if these craft traditions are at risk. With this in mind, I began researching ways emerging technologies could help us appreciate traditional techniques instead of replacing them. This work in progress is a real-time recording of the artisan’s hand in three-dimensional space and a new form of documentation of the unseen work that goes into the process.

A series of sculptures where extruded ceramic rods have been individually placed into a ceramic core.  These compositions explore the fragility of ceramics along with the meditative process of repetition.

A project with artist Thomas Schmidt and a North Carolina terrazzo manufacturer. Figurines collected from thrift stores in North Carolina are cast in an clear ecoresin and then sliced to make panels that expose the inner shapes of these porcelain objects. 

Prototype for an anaglyph 3D ceramic decal. This decal when used with red/cyan 3D glasses can make a stereoscopic 3D effect of a traditional floral pattern for decorative ceramics.