CuAl | Nothing but Time
Nothing Phone (3a) – CuAl
By Kester Wong
Hello everyone,
I’m Kester — a designer and maker based in Singapore.
Design, for me, began with sculpture.
I started by shaping clay, carving wood — materials that demanded patience, that changed with every touch. Over time, my practice evolved from crafting standalone objects to exploring how material, memory, and interaction converge. I’ve always been drawn to things that hold presence: that age, that respond, that quietly witness our lives. After moving from the U.S. back to Singapore, this curiosity deepened — especially in a world where everything feels disposable.
I believe objects shouldn’t just be used — they should grow with us.
That belief is at the heart of CuAl, wanting to answer:
What if your phone didn’t resist time — but welcomed it?
What if it became more personal the more you used it?
In a world chasing speed and sleek perfection, what happens when we let our devices slow down? When we allow them to age — to respond, reflect, and remember?
These questions sparked the journey.
CuAl – A Concept Rooted in Time
What if a phone didn’t resist the passage of time, but welcomed it? What if it became more personal the more you used it? Not just a tool — but a companion, shaped by your gestures and habits. Unlike mass-produced devices, this phone embraces time. The side panels change with use, forming a distinct, individual patina. More than sustainable, this design is soulful.
That idea became CuAl — a concept phone that carries memory not in megabytes, but in matter. The aluminum bronze frame darkens where your grip lingers. It shines where your fingers wander. It doesn’t wear out — it wears in. Every mark, every polish, every smudge becomes a quiet autobiography written in material.
References | Building a Vocabulary of Touch
Every object tells a story — not just in how it looks, but in how it lives. Our reference board became a mood archive of tactile memory. Four key themes guided us:
Touch – Surfaces that whisper. A satin brush that softens. A polished face that remembers a gesture. A matte skin that keeps secrets.
History – Bronze once shaped our earliest tools and statues. It’s a metal with a legacy — one that marked civilizations, now reimagined.
Industry – Today, aluminum bronze is prized in the maritime world — used in bolts, valves, and ship parts for its corrosion resistance and strength. Its toughness makes it essential. Its beauty makes it surprising.
Revive – We saw an opportunity to give new life to discarded materials. A way to revive both purpose and poetry.
Together, these threads became a material language — one rooted in time, touch, and transformation.
CMF Research | CuAl Exploration
Back in the studio, my hands took the lead.
I started by sourcing 100% copper and aluminum scraps — salvaged plumbing pipes, industrial offcuts, forgotten wiring. I melted them down and cast my own aluminum bronze alloy using existing metallurgical recipes as a starting point. It was dirty, hands-on work — but that’s what made it real.
What emerged from the crucible wasn’t just metal — it was material rebirth. A synthesis of past lives: discarded things now reimagined into a phone that remembers.
This was sustainability with soul. Every ingot carried echoes of where it came from. And every test surface I poured, sanded, and polished showed something new: how this alloy holds light. How it holds touch. How it holds time.
CMF Research | Concept Selection
From my growing library of textures and trials, I began to shape the final expression of CuAl — a phone designed not to stay the same, but to evolve.
This exploration visualizes different arrangements of aluminum bronze, copper, and aluminum across the internal back panel — each block representing a distinct finish: polished, satin, and matte. These aren’t just aesthetic decisions. They’re studies in contrast and transformation.
Beneath the glass lies a quiet composition — not silent, but intentional. Subtle glints of copper and aluminum nod to the alloy’s roots, grounding the design in elemental honesty. In this sealed space, the materials remain untouched, preserved — a still memory of where CuAl begins.
Meanwhile, the same finishes reappear on the phone’s exterior: along the frame, on the buttons, in every corner your hand meets. The frame — where your fingers naturally rest and grip — is made of exposed aluminum bronze. These surfaces are left intentionally bare, inviting oxidation, darkening, and shine. Designed to change, to respond, to record your touch.
Each finish offered a different feel, a different future. Some soft and quiet. Others bold and brassy. But what I loved most: no single version was final. Time finishes it for you.
This is material as memory — a phone that ages with you, shaped by your gestures, and etched by your presence. A fingerprint in bronze. A story only you can leave behind.
Nothing Phone (3a) – CuAl
is a small act of resistance in a world of planned obsolescence.
It’s not designed to stay new. It’s designed to grow with you.
As designers and material storytellers, we believe in making things that remember — that carry the past while shaping the future.
That respond not just to trends, but to touch.
This isn’t just a concept.
It’s a proposition: that your phone could become more you, the more you live with it.
—
Kester Wong
