When it comes to functional pieces of furniture, we probably go for items that are able to serve their function (and are most likely affordable) and are not really that concerned with the design or aesthetics. But the past years, a lot of people have also been concerned with how these items are made, specifically with the materials used to create them as we become more conscious about our personal carbon footprint and the things taht we consume.
Designer: Alexander Latersztain for Derlot
The original Stump stool from Derlot were already interesting enough with their “bold, minimalist and uncomplicated” take on this piece of furniture that lets us sit. Now the newest version is the Stump Recycled which carries the same basic structure of the stool but is now made from 80% recycled post-industrial plastic LDPE. And if you’re the type that would go for furniture that’s made sustainability then this should be right up your alley.
Because of the material it’s made from, you also get a different design. The patterns on the stools feature a terrazzo-like design which makes it more textured and colorful look. The original Stump stools had pretty solid colors but this time around you have the option to have a seat with a kaleidoscope-like finish. This is their “fresh interpretation” of how you can use recycled materials to enhance your design as well.
Derlot says that more than just a stool that you can sit on, this is a symbol of their commitment to pursue more sustainable design and production. I don’t know how long I can last sitting on this stool though as it’s small and doesn’t look that comfortable but sure, for sustainability, it’s a pretty interesting piece of furniture to have.
3D printing has come a long way, but unless you’re using industrial printers in large factories, you’re probably limited to creating small designs or just parts of a whole. That, unfortunately, means that creators and makers aren’t able to fully express their ideas and designs, at least not those that involve pieces that can’t fit inside a commercial 3D printer. That said, you don’t have to give up your creative freedom to use an expensive production line if you can put 3D printing robots to smart use, like this sustainable plastic coffee table that is able to form organic geometric forms just by making the robot arm loop round and round.
Designer: Martin Zampach
When people think of 3D printers, they most likely think of those boxy contraptions sitting on tables, with nozzles that quickly run back and forth while oozing out hot plastic material in order to build up a three-dimensional object almost like from thin air. While this is the most common and most convenient kind of 3D printing, it has severe limitations in the size or shape of the object being made, basically anything that can fit the area and height of the printer.
LOOPS is a collection of coffee tables conceived to push the envelope of 3D printing and create objects that are larger than normal without requiring additional hardware. An industrial 3D printing robot pretty much goes round and round to create the base shape, building layer after layer of composite material until the desired form is achieved. This is the process used for creating the base of these tables, allowing the designer to apply different geometric shapes with organic forms that look like they’re literally growing before your very eyes.
The coffee tables are more than just experiments in 3D printing, they are also testaments to beautiful sustainable design. Tabletops are made from 100% recycled plastic that is crushed, melted, and then moulded from used plastic. The 3D printed bases, on the other hand, are made from composite material containing cellulose from responsible forestry. When the tables reach the end of their use, both the base and the top can be recycled or reused to extend their life in a different way.
The LOOPS coffee table collection offers a unique and novel design that pushes the boundaries of 3D printing to produce beautiful shapes and textures that almost resemble traditional ceramic creations. The variety of recycled plastics used gives each tabletop a unique appearance, both in color as well as in texture. The minimalist yet elegant designs make the coffee tables the perfect artistic centerpieces for any space, offering a thought-provoking design that opens your mind to the possibilities of sustainable 3D printing.
The use of plastic in products has almost become so second nature that we spare no thought about how the material affects the environment in the long run. After all, there are plenty of benefits to plastic, such as its resilience, durability, and affordability, that we easily lose sight of long-term disadvantages. Fortunately, there are also more people who have become aware of this situation nowadays, and they have started to either move away from plastic completely or at least incorporate recycled plastics as much as possible. This chair is one of the latter, and while that in itself isn’t exactly extraordinary, the play of contrasting elements creates a harmonious composition that makes it look not only interesting but also welcoming.
Designer: Xingcheng Zhu
“XOX” might sound like an odd name for a chair, especially since it’s synonymous with a simple yet popular paper-and-pencil game. You immediately see the connection, however, when you view it from an angle and notice the two wooden X’s flanking the half-spherical shape that forms the chair’s seat and backrest. The choice of the name may have been based on that visual, but it also represents the very essence of the chair as a combination of contrasting elements.
While the standard design of a chair involves flat surfaces for the seat and backrest, the XOX Chair employs a hollow sphere that has a portion of it chopped off, forming the cavity for a person to sit inside. This circular shape sits in between the long, tubular legs of the chair, spindly in contrast to the fuller mass of the seat itself. Although the legs are the more visible part of the chair, their simpler and thinner forms draw your eyes immediately to the seat instead.
The materials used also contrast and complement each other. The legs are made of wood, a natural material whose grains create minute yet beautiful imperfections that give each piece a unique character. The middle component, however, is made from recycled PET bottles, resulting in a synthetic perfection with almost no blemishes. The seat is also completely transparent, giving it an airy and ethereal imagery that contrasts nicely with the solid and earthy tones of the legs.
This balance of elements yields a design that is both pleasing to look at and comfortable to use. Although it lacks the traditional armrests that add some support and stability to the body, the open spherical shape evokes feelings of openness and spaciousness, as if enveloping the person in protection and warmth. Best of all, it is also a design that is aware of the impact that furniture has on the planet’s health, implementing a sustainable solution that doesn’t compromise aesthetics and functionality in the process.
Ever wondered what happens to that packet of Doritos or Lays once you throw it in the trash? Chances are nothing. Thin plastic packaging (especially the metallic multi-layered kind used for chips/crisps) is notoriously difficult to recycle… which is why realistically, almost 0% of it actually does end up being recycled. “This is because flexible packaging results in a low-value, high volume, composite waste – up to 5-6 different types of materials – that is considered economically and technically impossible to recycle,” explains Anish Malpani, founder and CEO of Ashaya – a social enterprise that aims to increase the value of waste through technological and scientific innovations in recycling. The India-based company has, however, spent the last two years tackling this problem head-on, arriving at a unique solution – a way to turn these low-value plastic packets into granules that can then be injection-molded into sunglasses. Meet the ‘Without rSunglasses’, the world’s first (and only) sunglasses made from packets of chips!
Designer: Ashaya
What makes the plastic packaging used for your chips so great, is also what makes it so dangerous. It’s designed to be flexible, lightweight, low-cost, and single-use. Great for the consumer, but not so much for the environment. Trillions of these packets end up in landfills each year, and there’s really nothing much we can do about it. These packets are a majority of the waste collected by waste-pickers too, adding strain to their jobs with no reward because there’s no value in a trashed plastic bag. The folks at Ashaya hope to change that.
The Without rSunglasses look like your typical stylish wayfarers, but as the name suggests, they’re made without virgin plastic, without guilt, without harming the environment, and without exploiting workers. Each pair of matte-black frames contains up to 5 recycled plastic packets that are thrown in the trash. Ashaya’s team of waste-pickers collect the trash from in and around the city of Pune, bring it to the lab, and process the plastic packets into ready-to-mold granules. The result is a pair of frames that look so perfect, you’d think they’re made from virgin plastic… and thanks to Ashaya’s unique business model, the waste-pickers also benefit directly from all of the rSunglasses’ sales.
The frames are made using a patent-pending process that doesn’t just recycle plastic, it invigorates it too. Ashaya’s team chemo-mechanically extracts materials from plastic waste, converting the waste into high-end products that feel just like regular plastic and have the same long-lasting properties too. Each pair of spectacles recycles up to 5 packets of plastic, and although that might not sound like much, the Ashaya team is hoping to scale the technology up. The Without rSunglasses are just their first product, with plans for other plastic items in the pipeline.
UNDP estimates that India alone generates 65 million tonnes of waste each year
The patent-pending chemo-mechanical process to extract plastic from single-use packets
The sunglasses aren’t the only bit of innovation here. Ashaya actually hires its own waste-pickers, pretty much covering the entire supply chain. These otherwise marginalized professionals are made a part of Ashaya’s operations in a more substantive way, with the company following a profit-sharing model with the waste-pickers, ensuring that they’re compensated fittingly for their work. Profits from the sales of Without rSunglasses go towards helping the children of waste-pickers get a quality education, ensuring they have a bright future.
“Waste pickers in India are the backbone of the recycling industry in the country yet there is no formal economy for them. They are informally employed – no contract, no protective gear, no health insurance, while earning only daily wages based on the type of waste they encounter,” says Malpani. “It’s also a generational occupation – once you’re a waste picker, there’s a high probability your child will also become a waste-picker.”
“Our mission at Ashaya is to increase the value of waste, and fairly redistribute that value to stakeholders in the supply chain, especially those who are the most exploited: waste-pickers; to bring them permanently out of the cycle of poverty, while also making our planet better,” Malpani adds.
If you flip your plastic bottle of Coca-Cola or Pepsi or Dasani over and look at the bottom, chances are you’ll see a triangle with the number ‘1’ inside it. This number corresponds with the recyclability code of PET or PolyEthylene Terephthalate, the plastic commonly used in bottles, jars, clear containers, and other food-holding devices. PET is known for its clear nature and food-safe properties, but it’s also the easiest to recycle plastic that’s commonly available… a feature the Polyformer uses to its advantage.
The Polyformer is a clever appliance that turns your waste plastic bottle into a clear 3D printing filament. It’s a cheap, compact, and open-source machine that cuts the bottle into a thin ribbon that gets melted and extruded into a filament. The filament is then wound around a spool, which can then be used by other 3D printers to print objects. The best part? A majority of the Polyformer’s design is made entirely from 3D printed parts too, acting like the perfect proof of concept!
Designer: Reiten Cheng
Click Here to view instructions on how to build your own Polyformer
Designed by Reiten Cheng, a student at the ArtCenter College of Design in California, the Polyformer is a simple product that anyone can build on their own with a few store-bought parts and a 3D printer. “The modular architecture allows users to easily swap out parts and modify the machine to their liking,” Cheng says. “The unique vertical L shape allows the users to interact easily with the machine and also minimizes the amount of space that the machine takes.”
The Polyformer starts by stripping standard PET bottles into a uniform ribbon. Once the bottle’s been stripped away, the ribbon gets fed into a repurposed hot-end that uses a brass nozzle to extrude the melted plastic into a 1.75mm filament. The filament is then directed to the motorized spool, which rotates and collects it to be used later.
The entire product uses off-the-shelf parts and 3D-printed components. In fact, Cheng even open-sourced the Polyformer so that you can build your own. The files are available on the Polyformer GitHub page along with a detailed guide on how to assemble the device. Cheng’s website also mentions where you can buy off-the-shelf components like the aluminum heat block and the brass nozzle for the extrusion.
The Polyformer makes a unique pitch to help reduce plastic waste by practically giving plastic bottles a new life. This cradle-to-cradle approach is pretty much reinforced by the Polyformer itself, which Reiten printed out using 3D filament from recycled bottles, giving the entire appliance a beautiful translucent finish.
The Polyformer also went on to win multiple design awards like the James Dyson Award, the Core77 Award, and even secured 3rd place for the Hackaday Prize.
Click Here to view instructions on how to build your own Polyformer
