There was a plethora of designers and brands re-evaluating materials and finding new ways to work with waste at this year’s fair. On the top floor, for example, emerging designer BC Joshua showed a seat (created with designer Ella Doran) and lighting (designed in collaboration with Purva Kundaje) made from a newspaper pulp blend. Hagen Hinderdael and Novavita Design joined forces to develop a new product collection made from coffee waste, milk packaging, and fermented sugar.

Planq launched Rezign® materials – a new collection of materials made from textile waste such as post-consumer denim, army clothing, suits and white denim. This is combined with bio-based resources like flax and jute coffee bags to create veneer, multiplex board, and flex sheet materials.

Returning exhibitor Solidwool showcased composite materials made from the Herdwick and Welsh Mountain sheep. It also displayed a new Hembury side table. Elsewhere, Yair Neuman repurposes discarded lenses from the eyewear industry to create a new material for his products. The designer unveiled an assortment of pendant, table, and wall lights, alongside his Delerex® sunglasses frames.

On the fair’s second floor, Hydro illustrated the untapped potential of recycled aluminium, showing Bello!, a new lightweight bench manufactured from nearly 90 per cent of the material and designed by Lars Beller Fjetland. Around the corner, The Tyre Collective is a clean-tech start-up spearheading the capture and monitoring of tyre wear, accelerating the shift towards true zero-emission mobility. Tyre wear is the second-largest microplastic pollutant in our oceans and a major air particle matter pollutant. The studio is developing the first on-vehicle device to capture particles at the source. Once captured, this pollution can be upcycled into a variety of applications, ceating a closed-loop system. 

Image: Yair Neuman’s discarded lenses.