In 2021, I had the unique opportunity to live and work for three months at a deserted farmhouse and former cheese factory in Lochem—places marked for demolition and disappearance. There, I set up a temporary on-site laboratory to explore how local materials and traditional craftsmanship techniques respond to the architectural, historical, and emotional context of the site.

During that time, I recreated a 1:20 dollhouse-sized model of the farmhouse based on the cheesemaker’s memory of his former home. I also tested cheese wax as a sculptural material at full 1:1 scale.

Months later, in June 2022, reality echoed the work: the Dutch government introduced strict nitrogen reduction measures, leading to the forced closure of many farms—places that were not only workplaces, but homes and lives. The cheesemaker’s house—his dream and his memory—was melted in the studio by gradually increasing the temperature.

Meltdown became a reflection on the fragility of memory—how it can shift, deform, or disappear under external pressure. Cheese wax, with its soft, flexible structure, became a metaphor for memory itself: vulnerable, shapeable, and deeply tied to place.