Bringing color to Aurubis Beerse and Aurubis Olen, literally and figuratively! 

How did you start as a graffiti artist?
It all started when I was 14. In high school, I took an art course and discovered my passion for graffiti. At home, I had the attic to myself, where I could practice a lot. I taught myself the techniques through YouTube. My first commission came from my English teacher, who asked me to spray graffiti at Gladiolen, a festival in Olen. From that moment on, more and more commissions came in, from clothing stores to schools and industrial companies like Aurubis. The beauty is that each project is different; I work with various themes and styles.

Where does the name “Piroeh One” come from?
Over the years, I’ve had quite a few names (laughs). “Piroeh One” is a combination of my first name (Pieter) and my last name (Van den Bergh). ‘One’ signifies that I work solo and am not part of a graffiti crew.

What was the inspiration for the graffiti artworks at Aurubis Beerse and Aurubis Olen?
We started a project in Olen in the spring of 2023. The idea came from colleagues in the Internal Logistics team. At Cu-Port, we were looking for a solution to protect the badge pole. Cu-Port is our multimodal logistics terminal, focusing on water transport to significantly reduce the number of truck trips. This increases road safety on our local roads and reduces our ecological footprint. To protect the badge pole, we placed two sea containers on top of each other. Gradually, the idea emerged to give the containers an ‘Aurubis makeover’ with graffiti, inspired by an artwork at Aurubis Lünen. Hendrik Van den Bergh, Pieter’s brother, works in that team, and through him, we got in touch with Pieter. We brainstormed, and a few months later, the containers were shining in "Aurubis style". After positive feedback from colleagues and visitors in Olen, we explored options to introduce graffiti art at our Beerse site as well. Recently, some gray company walls have become beautiful artworks reflecting our Aurubis values and business.

How do the artworks contribute to our company culture and work environment?
The artworks bring something fresh and new, sparking conversations among colleagues, visitors, and passersby. It creates a sense of connection and pride. The link between the graffiti artist and one of our Aurubis colleagues also strengthens that sense of connection. Fun fact: Hendrik, Pieter’s brother who works in the Internal Logistics department at our Olen site, placed the graffiti containers himself using the Cu-Port crane. That makes it even more special.

How are our company values such as sustainability, innovation, and safety reflected in the graffiti artworks?
Valerie: The containers in Olen link to multimodal transport and our smelter. In the design, we see a colleague from our Contimelt department, fully equipped with safety gear. Since the containers are close to the water, we also wanted to link to the theme of water transport. Our Cu-Port has been in use since March 2020 and has reduced more than 50,000 truck trips. In the design, you can clearly see a ship on the canal and the trees next to the water.

In Beerse, we chose walls with a total area of more than 250 square meters. This provides space to show much more. We deliberately chose portraits of real colleagues from our company. We find this extremely important because our colleagues are our most valuable assets!

Pieter: In the design, we used Aurubis blue and natural tones to evoke stability. The clean lines reflect Aurubis’ innovative aspect. The slogans ‘Metals for Progress’ and ‘Tomorrow Metals’ emphasize Aurubis’ progress. Safety as a core value is depicted in the PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and department-specific work clothing worn by the colleagues.

This is my first time doing such a project in the non-ferrous industry. So, Aurubis is a pioneer in innovation, sustainability, … and also in graffiti.