Kaiva
Category: Furniture
Competitions: Home Competition [Now Closed]
Kaiva is a result of creating a unique furniture solution by primarily using byproducts from food industries. Most furniture produced today is made of wood or chemically-treated textiles. Instead, Kaiva utilizes used coffee grounds and orange peels to create durable biocomposites. Rather than these byproducts getting discarded after consumption, I see them as a valuable resource, if used properly. I began by collecting these byproducts from local businesses, dehydrating them, and combining them with several other biodegradable ingredients on the stove. Each composite has its own shaping process: the coffee ground composite was poured into a two part CNC/vacuum-formed mold, and the orange peel composite was organically shaped by hand. These biodegradable composites speak to current manufacturers to work towards implementing sustainable solutions. Orange peel composite material breakdown: dehydrated orange peels, agar agar, vegetable glycerin, cornstarch, water, beef gelatin, turmeric powder. Coffee composite material breakdown: dehydrated used coffee grounds, sodium alginate, agar agar, vegetable glycerin, beef gelatin, water.
