Lamps made with tofu waste

Indonesian design studio Mater Design Lab uses paper made of tofu waste to design lamps.

Tofu is one of the most consumed foods in Indonesia. Five million people work in the industry. However, this means there is also a lot of processing waste, which has a major impact on the environment. The releasing of insufficient treated water is one of the factors causing endemic fish extinction in rivers.

Mater Design Lab uses this tofu waste water to make soya paper. They use the waste from the tofu industry near a village called Seradakan in Indonesia, which hosts more than 200 small tofu industries. The soya paper is available in various colours and can be safely composted at end of life.

Using the soya paper, the design studio uses computational design and autogenerated patterns to create hanging and table lamps. The design is cut from flat paper sheets to create three dimensional objects.

Photos: Mater Design Lab