Inspired by Chain Mail and Transforming Buildings

Kayne Horsham knew he was onto something when the costumes he was making got a nickname. It was at the turn of the millennium and Horsham was working in his native New Zealand on the production of what would become the blockbuster three-film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, Nate Berg writes for Fast Company.

As artistic director for the creatures, armour, and weapons department, Horsham was tasked with finding ways to outfit the films’ plethora of hobbits, wizards, elves, and dwarves. In practice, that mean creating a lot of chain mail armour, Berg writes.

Now, more than two decades after first handcrafting his novel polypropylene plastic chain mail on the sets of the Lord of the Rings films, Horsham has industrialised the material for use on buildings around the world. His company – named Kaynemaile – has turned movie costume armour into an elegant, flowing, and surprisingly sustainable mesh material that’s being used by designers to augment their buildings, both outside and in.

Kaynemaile acts as a fluid, curtain-like element on buildings ranging from parking structures to museums to private residences, providing a kinetic surface that moves in the wind and draws the eye.

His building-cooling, reusable chain mail, born in the movies, shows “the power of the ring”, Horsham says.

Original article by Nate Berg, Fast Company, June 22, 2023.

Photo by Brad Feinknopf.