Metal Casting

Our Melina pendant lights involve using a new making process for us – metal casting – to create the bronze fittings. When Mentsen designed the Melina, they found a fantastic UK company who are skilled in the manufacturing process of investment casting and they let us come and watch the process in action. It’s amazing to see the way the process works, a more high-tech version of a technique that has existed for thousands of years!

Also called ‘lost wax casting’ the process starts by creating wax models from the designer’s 3D drawings. These are then connected as a tree-like structure which is used to make the ceramic mould. The wax is then melted away leaving the mould ready for the metal casting where molten bronze is used to fill the mould, solidifying as it cools. The mould is then removed, and the metal parts are separated from their ‘tree’ before being carefully finished to become our beautiful, solid bronze Melina fittings.