by Cliff Champion
filed under: green furniture, Green Materials, ICFF, New Materials, new york design week


During this year’s New York Design Week twelve RISD students unveiled Recyclable Composites – an innovative collection of furniture made of Twintex®, a cutting-edge fully recyclable plastic composite. Because the material doesn’t have resins, products made with this material can simply be melted down and used again. The results of their brave experimentation with this new material were absolutely stunning. Read on for a look at their projects — from intricately woven stools and lamps to ultra-lightweight chairs and a gravity-defying table supported by strands of thread!


The large majority of composite materials suitable for furniture design rely heavily on resins, which render them un-recyclable. Twintex® however, is a “commingled glass and thermoplastic polypropylene fiber filament” which can be used like string, and then baked in an oven to harden into a solidified mass. The use of this recyclable composite is a direct reflection of the RISD Furniture Design Department’s commitment to “research, innovation and sustainability as key pedagogical areas of focus.”
“Shadow” by Lisa Jo-Fan Chang is a neo-gothic pendant lamp that explores form and negative space to create a hauntingly beautiful lighting fixture. Twintex® filament was wrapped around a welded metal structure to create its 3-tiered and 5-winged shape. After baking the lamp, the metal skeleton was removed, and it was outfitted with lighting hardware.
(Source: www.inhabitat.com )