Re.Bean Coffee Stool

_

Kristen Wang, University of Melbourne

Re.Bean Coffee Stool explores a brand-new sustainable material for furniture pieces from locally collected coffee ground waste and other coffee industry waste. The project features a unique smell and tactility of coffee, as well as 100% biodegradable – generating no waste to our natural environment.

Coffee ground waste has become one of the significant organic wastes globally. However, the issue is mostly unaware of by the public. Re.Bean Coffee Stool aims to develop innovative design solutions to reutilise this waste material and transform it into a sustainable and more importantly, biodegradable piece of functional furniture. Throughout the development process, a strong emphasis has been placed on the materiality and fabrication techniques. While most other sustainable furniture products in the market conventionally incorporate timber or other material for structural purpose, this binary approach is challenged by creating a sense of design using a singular material to create a unique design and fabrication method.

In addition, Re.Bean Coffee Stool seeks to make a manifesto of a creative design solution that how designers can help to cope with waste problems; it also tries to raise public’s awareness towards the environmental issues of coffee industry waste. Through its coffee smell, unique tactility and fabrication process, Re.Bean Coffee Stool is revealing how our daily waste from coffee, one of the most globally consumed beverages, can be transformed into a useful furniture object.

_

Kristen Wang_ has won multiple Australian and international design awards and currently works as a senior tutor at the University of Melbourne. www.kristenwangdesign.com

_{Image: Re.Bean Coffee Stool_Kristen Wang}