eat your dinner; wine and dine on the leftovers
Swedish designers Carolina Härdh and Emeli Höcks, create sleek, minimalist furniture pieces out of repurposed food waste.
Published On: 11/05/2022
After meeting in a master’s program at the Academy of Art and Design in Gothenburg, Höcks and Härdh started experimenting with natural materials. The pair have been working on various design experiments both individually and as a team since.
Höcks tells Icon Eye magazine: ‘My interest [in materiality] started when I did my bachelor’s degree...I decided to develop my own material based on certain criteria, such as it being local, non-toxic and biodegradable as well as having an aesthetic value and strength.’
The pair has a deep appreciation for the innate beauty of shells. After learning that most restaurants throw away their oyster shells after service, the design duo teamed up with Swedish restaurant, Vrå, to create seats and side tables for the restaurant made from the restaurant’s own waste.
“Through this focus on tactility, Härdh hopes to make circular, zero-waste principles tangible and understandable for the restaurant's guests.” (Dezeen, 2022)
The discarded food waste from the Gothenburg-based restaurant is collected, mashed and transformed into a biomaterial ‘dough’ that is then set into moulds, in a process similar to pre-cast concrete. The final product is then finely sanded to smooth off any rough edges and any excess material from the production process is used to form other objects for the restaurant, such as chopstick rests, or used as mulch to enrich the soil of the restaurant's rooftop vegetable garden.
"It makes the entire building where Vrå is located a small ecological system, providing humans with food and giving back to nature in return," Härdh explained in an interview with Dezeen.
‘Gigas’ stool and side table collection by Höcks and Härdh, for Vrå Restaurant
The main ingredient in this furniture composite is crushed oyster shells. As oyster shells are comprised of up to 95% calcium carbonate, when crushed they produce a strong and durable cement-like compound - who knew?! Other ingredients that make up these furniture pieces include discarded fish bones, rice starch and sea kelp. The finished pieces have a beautiful, terrazzo-like finish with natural texture and minimalist design fit for design week.
Materials in ‘Gigas’ stool and side table by Höcks and Härdh, for Vrå Restaurant
According to Härdh, 100% of the materials come from nature, and at the end of their lifecycle can return to nature. Due to the nutrient density of materials used, the furniture can be broken down after use and sown back into soils as fertiliser. These furniture pieces are truly circular in design. Zero-waste design from natural materials can not only stop toxic, synthetic materials from entering supply chains, but can also return much-needed nutrients back into depleted soils; making the best use of an abundant natural waste product, that would otherwise be destined for landfill. Proving that circular design can be as beautiful as it is practical and ecologically responsible. Hedonistic sustainability at its best.
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‘Besitt’ bench seat by Höcks and Härdh
For more from this dynamic duo head to their websites:
https://emelihocks.com/backstage
and for more from restaurant Vrå, check them out here: https://restaurangvra.se/
all information and images sourced from:
Dezeen : https://www.dezeen.com/2022/04/11/carolina-hardh-vra-gigas-design/
ICON eye: https://www.iconeye.com/design/the-designers-using-food-waste-to-create-furniture-pieces
‘Waste’ is the most untapped resource we have. Finding uses for what would be currently considered as waste is the 'natural resource mining' of the future. Are you working on a project that reimagines waste? Or want to flag a company that is? Get in touch!
we’d luv to hear from you - drop us a line at workwithus@toitoitoiluv.com
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