More and more designers are using locally produced materials, biobased materials, and materials that used to be seen as waste in their project. Danish designers Jonas Edvard and Nikolaj Steenfatt combined all three these types of materials in their project Terroir. They developed a new material made from seaweed and recycled paper waste and used it to make lampshades and chairs. Terroir is one of the many exhibited pieces at Material Xperience, 13-15 March in Rotterdam Ahoy, the Netherlands (click here for a free ticket).

The seaweed is harvested along the beach of Denmark, which is one of the world’s longest coastlines compared to the land mass area. After being dried the seaweed is ground into powder and cooked into glue, utilising the viscous and adhesive effect of Alginate, the natural polymer of the brown algae.

The seaweed glue is combined with paper waste, creating a tough and durable material. The designers describe its feel as “a warm and tactile surface with the softness of cork and the lightness of paper.” The colour of the material is determined by the different species of seaweed, and ranges from dark brown to light green.

Edward and Steenfatt used the new material to create lampshades and chair seats.

Terroir is a description often used to determine the cultural and geological relation between products and where they are produced, emphasising the heritage and knowledge linked to the use of the raw material.

Photos: Emil Thomsen Schmidt