The biopolymer is produced from agar agar, a vegan gelling agent. The substance is extracted from red algae, which are native to water bodies around the world. Carolyn Raff Studio obtains the agar agar from Spain and Morocco as these have relatively short transport routes.
The agar agar is boiled with natural dyes, glycerol and water, and is then gelled. After that, the material is dried with the residual heat from a nearby biogas plant and is ready for further processing.
Depending on its composition, the biopolymer behaves similarly to latex or PVC. When in contact with water, the material softens. Once dry, the material is a little stiffer than it was before contact. This is due to the water solubility of glycerol. Glycerol acts as a natural plasticizer in the material. Glycerol is a sugar alcohol and is found in all natural fats and vegetable oils and is used in the food and pharmaceutical industries.
In order to ensure the compostability and thus the environmental compatibility of our material, there is no coating to achieve water resistance. This means that the material is water-repellent to a certain extent, but not waterproof.
Sensorial
Technical
Environmental