Reimagining waste at Paris Design Week: Transforming Caf Waste
At Paris Design Week, four Latvian designers teamed up with Kalve Coffee to redefine the café experience as a circular material ecosystem, recycling café leftovers in innovative ways. By taking everyday waste like coffee grounds, dirty water, and excess foamed milk, the project unveils new avenues for sustainable production. Collaborating under the project, they transform these by-products into functional materials.
Creating a connected material chain
The initiative begins with Mārtiņš Mežulis’ innovative water filtration system. Coffee grounds undergo pyrolysis with CharcoTec before Yang Liu of Eindhoven University of Technology enhances them into activated carbon. This carbon filters dirty water from coffee machines, initiating new transformations. Part of this filtered water contributes to Katrīna Tīna Smilga’s Milk Glue. By heating and acidifying leftover milk, curds form and are processed into a glue-like material.
Transforming Caf Waste: From waste to form
Designer Līva Sakārne merges dried coffee grounds, milk glue, and filtered water to mold organic coffee trays. These trays replace traditional ones at Kalve Coffee, integrating sustainable practices into daily use. Extending further, dirty water combines with glycerin and resin, thanks to Paula Punkstiņa’s innovation, crafting amber-hued sculptural surfaces that capture water’s dynamic essence.
The art and science of materials
Found Associations’ installations highlight a seamless material flow, where one experiment’s outcome fuels the next. This continuous loop provides a powerful model of a circular economy, with low-tech methods blending harmoniously with advanced lab techniques. Recycling café waste challenges both visual and sensory perceptions of waste, urging a redefinition of discarded materials.
The café acts as both a resource and laboratory, emphasizing endless potential. Coffee grounds become filters, milk turns into adhesive, and water crafts captivating spaces, showcasing bold new associations and possibilities.
Bringing experimentation to everyday life
Interior installations at the exhibit, like trays and sculptural displays, infiltrate everyday café operations, blurring the lines between art and function. This approach invites patrons to experience sustainability firsthand, questioning and reshaping their relationship with consumption, all through this process.
For more inventive approaches to architecture, Poké Ball-Themed Retreat Transforms Hokkaido illustrates blending design with nature.
The Found Associations project keeps reshaping public perception, pushing the boundaries of creativity and sustainability through reusing materials innovatively.
The exhibition doesn’t just inform; it transforms, placing sustainability at the heart of consumption and production by converting waste into valuable resources.
The project reminds us that waste can become a catalyst for creativity and innovation, leading to a sustainable future.
Sources & Links
Source: designboom.com
Frequently asked questions
How are café wastes being transformed at Paris Design Week?
At Paris Design Week, Latvian designers and Kalve Coffee collaborated to recycle café wastes, such as coffee grounds and excess milk, into functional materials like organic coffee trays and amber-hued sculptural surfaces.
What is the purpose of the water filtration system by Mārtiņš Mežulis?
Mārtiņš Mežulis’ water filtration system uses activated carbon derived from coffee grounds to filter dirty water from coffee machines, enabling further sustainable transformations within the project.
What materials can be made from leftover milk?
By heating and acidifying leftover milk, curds form and are processed into a glue-like material known as Milk Glue, which is then utilized in creating organic coffee trays.