Out in the African desert, the smallest creatures, barely the size of your thumb, have built climate-controlled fortresses, some up to 5 m tall — and they’ve been doing this for thousands of years. Stephen Burks and Malika Leiper, partners at the award-winning industrial design studio Stephen Burks Man Made, travelled to Senegal’s southeastern Tambacounda region as artists in residence at Thread. Here, they encountered several termite mounds during their daily walks in the remote village of Sinthian. These architectures are believed to be the largest non-manmade structures dating back 350 000 years. Maintaining a constant temperature to resist the harsh climate, a central chimney funnels hot air, while cool air is drawn in from multiple openings at the mound’s base.

Seeking opportunities that bring their hands closer to the act of making, Stephen and Malika created a sculptural form, inspired by the mounds, using papier mâché. Once they situated it in the landscape, something changed: ‘The work came to life when we placed the termite mound in the natural landscape. It transcended its physical form and became monumental,’ Malika says. In Cambodia, where she was born and raised, termite mounds are believed to be thresholds to the spiritual world, containing the spirits of ancestors.

During their residency program in February 2025, Malika and Stephen were based at the cultural centre designed by architect Toshiko Mori. It houses two artist studios under an undulating thatched roof, which functions like an open-air living room. In this welcoming environment, community members gather alongside local and international artists. Thread’s artist residency program, spearheaded by the Josef & Anni Albers Foundation in partnership with the non-profit Le Korsa, was a suitable match for the design studio’s collaborative mission, with the program enabling artists from around the world to advance their work in an extraordinary setting. ‘We wanted to respond to our surroundings with a project that could be in dialogue with the nature, the people, and their culture,’ Stephen Burks explains. 

Stephen and Malika’s site-specific artwork is emblematic of their studio’s commitment to uniting art, community, and industry through a hands-on, workshop-based creative practice. Ultimately, their belief that everyone is capable of design facilitated an unusual alliance with the world’s most ancient architects.

“Termite mounds are believed to be thresholds to the spiritual world, containing the spirits of ancestors.”