Growing the inorganic
The mineral approach of Llàgrima Salta is to merge digital technologies with a territorial precious resource from the South of France. By submerging 3D-printed scaffolding shapes into artificial hot salt-saturated baths, slow evaporation of the cooling water allows sodium chloride molecules to self-assemble into cubic crystals around the printed surfaces. Salt crystals form exponentially: the longer the structures are left in the baths, the more water evaporates and the larger the crystals become. The printing paths are programmed in organic trajectories to improve crystal adhesion to the scaffold walls. After a few weeks, the scaffolds are fully covered in crystals and are ready to be removed from the baths to dry. This autonomous process builds hybrid objects where organic shapes meet rigid geometries.
From material to emotion
Drawing on the Catalan term "llàgrima" meaning tear, this material exploration brings a poetic narrative to the process. After initial experiments with 3D samples and crystal formation, the project proposes a stage scenography for Cirque du Soleil™ where salt becomes both an architectural material and an emotional layer. The model is also 3D-printed and crystallized using the same method, through immersion in saturated baths. The stage model combines visual elements of the traditional circus and topographic patterns from salt lands. Designed as an open-air circus for permanent installation on salt marshes, the project reconnects the material to its natural context, bridging technology, storytelling, emotion, territory and natural transformation.
There is a small amount of salt in every tear we cry
Llàgrima Salta expands into a live show. Imagined for the stage architecture, it grounds its storytelling in the salinity of human tears. The metal poles originally supporting the big-top circus are embedded in the decor and distorted by the heat of the bath to evoke an atmosphere of desolate times in a frozen desert world. The narrative of the show follows a sad child who always had his cheeks wet with tears. One night, he cried so much that his tears crystalized, forming a giant mountain of salt and he found himself buried underneath. The show shares his odyssey to escape the heart of the mountain, alongside sadness and solitude but also hope and love.
