designboom · Creativity & design

Café Reimagined as Bio-Laboratory at Paris Design Week

Found Associations, a project at Paris Design Week, explores the potential of cafés as material ecosystems by transforming daily by-products into new resources.

The initiative by four Latvian designers and artists, in collaboration with Kalve Coffee, integrates biodesign and circular economy principles. It treats café waste—used coffee grounds, dirty water, and excess milk foam—as starting materials for production.

Mārtiņš Mežulis developed a water filtration system using coffee grounds transformed into activated carbon through pyrolysis and steam treatment. This filtered water then feeds into the next stage.

Katrīna Tīna Smilga's "Milk Glue" process heats and acidifies leftover milk foam, separating curds that are dried and powdered to create a glue-like substance.

Līva Sakārne combines dried coffee grounds with this milk glue and filtered water to form a moldable material. This mixture is pressed into organic-shaped trays inspired by spilled liquid, some of which are used in the café's daily service.

Paula Punkstiņa contributes to the spatial environment by creating amber-colored surfaces from dirty water, glycerin, and resin, capturing the appearance of moving water.

The project links these experiments sequentially, with the output of one process serving as the input for the next, demonstrating a continuous material chain. It combines low-tech and laboratory methods to redefine 'waste' materials into functional objects and spatial elements.

AI-samenvatting op basis van de bron.