Sep 29, 20224 min read

Design with waste

As zero-waste low-impact products are gaining popularity these days, we must evaluate our consumption habits and broaden our understanding of materials. Designers play a crucial role in leading this shift towards looking at discarded materials as resources for innovative designs. With more designers embracing sustainability each day, it seems that the future of design lies in waste. From chairs made of packing crates to a couch stuffed with surgical masks, here is a list of our favourite innovations leading the way in designing with waste.

Eco chaise-longue

Just when you thought you'd seen every DIY plastic bottle furniture video and blog post on the internet, Pawel Grunert comes up with the Eco Chaise Lounge – a sculptural plastic bottle chair to rule them all.

Polish sculptor, designer, and artistic furniture maker Pawel Grunert loves to create chairs. He uses not only natural materials such as grass, straw, earth, and wood but also steel, fabrics, and bricks to create sculptures and artistic furniture pieces. Even though he has made a few hundred tables, closets, and sculptures, he seems to favour chairs.

The Eco Chaise Longue was created for a notable exposition titled 'ECOTRANSPOP' at the Milan-based gallery - Edizioni Galleria Colombari. The chaise lounge is a dynamic and organic sculptural work made from dozens of PET mineral water bottles arranged in a cascading floral pattern within a stainless-steel frame.

Meltingpot Table

Dutch designer Durk Vander Kooij's guiding principles have always been longevity, functionality, and joy. Using recycled plastic and other discarded materials to create lamps, tables, vases, and chairs, Van der Kooij's Netherlands-based studio always leads with the question: is this a permanent, worthy application of the resources used?

Embracing genuinely sustainable and circular creation, Van der Kooij and his team use house-developed robots, presses, and extruders to create innovative and masterful pieces intended to stand the test of time. Refrigerator interiors, lawn furniture, CDs, and other scrap materials find a new life in the Meltingpot Table. Each piece is composed of discarded resources to create a table that is unique in its palette and pattern.

The studio does not believe in using lacquer or any surface treatment to maintain the product's sustainability. The Meltingpot Table showcases the ideal collaboration between a robotic arm and a designer, resulting in a circular or oval-shaped slab resting atop one or two conical bases. They are available in a range of sizes, perfect for family dinners or chatting over coffee.

Couch-19

Face masks have been pivotal in curbing the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic. Despite other sustainable options, single-use facemasks – made from layers of plastic – were the most popular choice. Since these masks are considered medical waste, they cannot undergo the standard recycling process and continue to litter the streets or undergo incineration that releases toxic fumes. Italian designer Tobia Zambotti aimed to highlight this issue by creating a couch that uses these disposable masks as stuffing.

Aptly named Couch-19 (after COVID-19), the couch is shaped irregularly to resemble an iceberg. The masks were sourced from volunteers in Italy who picked up disposable masks and collected the ones they use daily. Zambotti then stored these masks in a sealed plastic bag and thoroughly disinfected them with ozone. The masks were then stuffed into a crystal PVC pouffe. The pouffes are modular and are available in 4 different sizes so that they can be arranged to form different seating configurations. The icy blue and white masks and the irregularly shaped PVC pouffe give a cold and distinctive appearance.

The Couch-19 is succeeded by Coat-19 – a collaboration between Zambotti and Finnish fashion designer Aleksi Saastamoinen. Coat-19 uses the same concept as its predecessor, this time using the face masks as stuffing to create an opulent and fashionable puffer jacket.

You can’t sit with us! Unless…

Malmo Upcycling Service (M.U.S) is a Swedish-based design studio focused on circular production and sustainable design processes. For 2019's Stockholm Furniture Fair, M.U.S asked designers to evaluate and rate their commitment to sustainable production. The initiative is titled "You can't sit with us! Unless… you also work towards circular solutions in your business" – a play on the famous quote from the 2004 American comedy Mean Girls.

The exhibition features a series of stools and chairs made from repurposed wood, vinyl, leather, foam, and other waste materials from Malmo. The striking red and white designs create a stark contrast to the classic Scandinavian aesthetic and succeed in making an impact on the viewer.

The eight designers involved are Ellen Berglund, Linda Claesson, Anna Gudmundsdottir, Julia Knutas, Maja Lindh, Oskar Olsson, Sonja Signäs, and Matilda Ulvbielke. These designers developed the pieces keeping in mind sustainable production and their future disassembly and reuse.

Trashformers

Greek designer Savvas Laz is bringing attention to the wastefulness of packaging materials through a series of sculptural designs titled 'Trashformers'. Laz scavenged discarded pieces of Styrofoam packing crates and combined them in different combinations to create a chair, bench, lamp, or mirror.

The Styrofoam mixed with polyurethane foam is brushed with a layer of water-based resin made of pigment, powder, and fibreglass to achieve structural stability.

Laz successfully highlights the issue with single-use packaging by turning these non-recyclable materials into everyday functional objects. Each piece vividly explores material composition and reconstruction, resulting in colourful, quirky, and eco-friendly designs.

Space Experience & Brand Identity

Design with waste

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