Tabula (non) Rasa 30 / Cycled Project 34 / Materials Village

Tabula (non) Rasa

↘ Designed and curated by studio.traccia. This installation connects design and food-waste, as an initial attempt to discuss a wider issue: the possibility of a Non-Extractive Architecture. Invited at this table are researchers, designers and companies whose work is currently exploring new paths towards that direction.

Each year, about 20% of the FOOD produced in the world for human consumption (around 931 million tons) is lost or wasted. Let’s understand this a bit better ... Imagine a fully loaded 40 ton (40,000 kg) truck. Now imagine 23 million of these trucks. If placed in single line they make up a ribbon 7 times long the diameter of the earth (more or less 264,000 km). The weight of those 23 million vehicles is equal to that of all the food that EVERY year, globally, is wasted or thrown away.

Every year about 30% of the waste produced by the entire EU comes from the world of DESIGN, ARCHITECTURE and CONSTRUCTION. We continue to extract and produce in a linear TAKE-MAKE- WASTE system that operates according to the clearly obsolete assumption that considers the planet aninfinite source of resources.

Goal 12 of the United Nations 2030 agenda calls to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. Target 12.3 reads: “By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses” Target 12.5, also states: “By 2030, substantially reduce the production of waste through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse”.

An interesting fact is that most of the food waste occurs inside our homes. Of the total of approximately 931 million tons of waste produced, 61% occurs in the private household, 26% in catering and food service and 13% in retail. It is therefore personal behaviours (certainly induced by a consumerist society) that must be reviewed.

The constant quest for novelty and the magnified consumption of the latest trends produced by our own capitalist system, have actively encouraged excessive resource extraction and uncontrolled overproduction, which largely contributes to the creation of an ever-increasing number of waste.

The effects on the environmental impact should not be forgotten - Wasted food is traditionally managed through composting or “disposed” in landfills or incinerators. These cause heavy CO2 emissions, to which the corresponding percentage of greenhouse gases previously emitted for the production and processing of that same food should also be added.

If we look at plastic, in 2019 over 100 million tons of waste were produced by the design sector alone, of which only 30% is recycled, while the rest is incinerated or sent to landfills. Most of the current “bio-valorisation” of food waste generates low to medium value products such as biogas and compost. Given the impressive volume, wouldn’t it be interesting if the organic waste of our cities could provide the raw material for high-value products, thus contributing to the construction of a new paradigm based on a zero-waste circular economy?

Design has always played a fundamental role in facilitating alternative visions, promoting narrative changes and describing future scenarios in which new ideas settles into new habits. Waste is abundant and cheap, traditional resources are limited and expensive. What if we could turn the problem into the solution? What if waste became our new resource?

The table is an object symbol of sharing, of aggregation and conversation, especially in Italy where food itself plays an extremely social function. A meeting point, where gathering with a brutal awareness though: personal responsibility cannot be ignored and strategies for the future cannot start from scratch. We must start from what exists, physically, always. A TABULA [non] RASA therefore, which embodies the principle of a new paradigm, being made in all its parts from scraps and food waste. A table, made up of a series of independent tables which are at the same time complementary: a set of individuals that together become a larger entity - basically a society.

Is it a suspended dinner or one that has yet to begin? It’s both. It is an end and also a beginning, but above all it is a transformation. Of matter and mindset. Tableware made with food scraps and organic materials, created by international designers, enliven the conversation, describing us a new circular logic and bringing back the focus to research.

TABULA [non] RASA is a declaration of intent. It is a commitment. It is a duty.

A sincere thank you goes to the designers and companies whose research is currently exploring these fields and who enthusiastically agreed to contribute to the project: BASSE STITTGEN | CRAFTING PLASTICS! | EMMA SICHER | MALAI | MIDUSHI KOCHHAR | MOGU | NEWTAB-22 | ORANGE FIBER | REPULP | RICEHOUSE The use of organic waste for the creation of new materials that could replace traditional ones is only one of the possible paths that must be urgently explored. It is a way of relating two separate problems, which together have the capacity to produce reciprocal solutions, and at the same time to generate positive effects on a social, economic and environmental levels.

Finding alternatives to the exploitation of limited resources became in the last decade, one of the most explored field of research perhaps, but as far as the construction sector is concerned, the change must be more radical, given the complicated network of relationships that connects this specific field to the rest of society and its economic actors.

To make this large-scale transition possible, it is necessary to rethink all the mechanisms of the architectural practice, construction, design, planning, but also (and above all) project financing, governance, legislative and economic agents, institutions. While it is necessary to encourage the development and growth of alternative practices, there should be, on the other hand, a discouragement of unsustainable ones, such as the excessive mobility of goods. Every professional working in this sector need to be ready to question their role in society. And this questioning must result in an in-depth study of the entire complex mechanism of all the parts revolving around architecture, and society in general.

How to modify each component in order to produce a different model of development, where the ultimate goal is not the immeasurable accumulation of capital but a society in balance with itself and with the planet? Technology is now totally intertwined with all aspects of our existences, therefore the approach should, on one hand, look at geotechnologies, while developing, on the other hand, geopolitical frames, in order to make sure our future metabolic loops would actually be socially viable.

In this context, a different kind of institutions would be needed, one that could operate at a planetary scale. The idea of a NonExtractive Architecture, which questions the acceptance of the creation of externalities* is now a necessary paradigm.

Although it will take time, which is necessary to imagine new development models and acquire new habits, the invitation to discuss them and to outline different solutions must happen now. The role that design must have from now on, should be to translate emerging environmental awareness into informed and collaborative responses. Personal responsibility is always the first step towards any form of change, which is why we felt it is important to turn our attention, and yours, to this issue.

The installation consists of a large table made with recycled steel and MOGU an innovative material composed by organic resin and food scraps. Various tableware created by international designers, working on the upcycling of food-waste into new materials will be set up on the table. Suspended above it, like a large chandelier, an aerial sculpture of agro-waste and pruning leftovers will celebrate a new design process in which the Place and the Season are the main influencers, raising awareness to the specificity of a territory and seasonality.

We chose to design a table as this simple furniture piece is an object symbol of sharing, of aggregation and conversation, around which ideas are opposed, shared, collected, discussed and debated. A table is a gathering place, a communal space where social acts are enabled: it is therefore our invitation to take part to this urgent discussion.

The table is actually made by 5 independent tables which are at the same time complementary: a set of individuals that together become a larger entity - a metaphor of society. Each single table, on its own, is a uniquely shaped piece with an organic and yet controlled geometry; when joined, coupled or placed close to another module it shows the harmoniousness but also the juxtaposition, revealing a natural tension that gets dissolved when they come all together to form a large leaf-shaped table.

Studio.traccia. is a multidisciplinary practice with focus on architecture, design and photography, based in Milan, Italy. It was founded in 2020 by Claudia Orsetti and Luigi Olivieri. The studio works at multiple scales, always trying to turn the constraints they are presented with into opportunities. Their architecture, made of collisions and contradictions, is always driven by a strong narrative which is the compass and the governance of both its physical manifestation and its experience. Sustainability of resources and of thinking is at the core of the studio’s ethos, which is expressed through different projects where the working methodology always revolves around sharing, connecting and interweaving both knowledge and people.

This became the main reason why in January 2021 they started an online series of talks, called Tracce. Tracciare means showing new possibilities and it’s to feed this sense of exploration that creatives from different fields and with different backgrounds were asked to join in conversation talking about their work and their working methodology. The intention was to let emerge topics and themes of the contemporaneity, beyond the traditional division into disciplines, to investigate, question, or connect this increasingly multifaceted present.

For Milan Design Week they have collaborated with ALCOVA, by bringing Tracce live, realizing 3 talks with the aim of submitting for discussion the most interesting topics emerged during the online talks. The guests have been: Davide Rapp, Fosbury Architecture, Sebastiano Leddi (Perimetro), Angela Rui, Fondamenta, Simone Bossi, Beka&Lemoine, Studio Folder and Crafting Plastics.

Claudia studied Architecture in Rome and in Switzerland at Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio where she graduated in 2010, with Professor Valerio Olgiati. She has since been working around the world, first in Milan for Cino Zucchi, then in Tokyo, for SANAA and ultimately in London, for Heatherwick Studio, where she was Associate and Senior project leader for almost 7 years. In these firms she had the chance of working on complex international projects while leading large multi-disciplinary teams. She is often invited as guest critic in Universities such as the AA Architectural Association of London and The Bartlett School of Architecture. In 2020 she moved to Amsterdam where she brought forward a series of photographic projects, for which she has been awarded GUP New Talent 2021. Photography is part of a working methodology that she uses to investigates territories and that she often uses as a tool to question reality.

Luigi studied Architecture in Rome, at University of Vallegiulia La Sapienza, Roma Tre and at the ITECH of Stuttgart. He has been teaching and collaborating with Princeton University, The American University of Cairo and Cornell University. From 2021, he will be teaching also at Politecnico di Milano. He has also been working around the world: in Berlin for Tomas Saraceno, in London for Heatherwick Studio and in Amsterdam for UNstudio. He is interested in the possibilities of the digital world, not just as a drafting tool but especially when combined with materials and their properties. In 2020 they founded together studio traccia, and in 2021 they decided to move back to their home country and to establish their practice in Milan, a city they find particularly interesting for its double identity as last mediterranean outpost and first European metropolis.

Cycled Project

↘ Two Italian brothers with a heart for biking have decided to create an ecofriendly startup to upcycle used bike tires into fashionable objects.

Silvio and Luca Potente are born and raised in Marcon, a little town near by Venice, in the early eighties. They spent their childhood playing many sports and cycling for passion that their grandfather passed to them. Coming from a middle class family, (father industry labour and mother housekeeper) they spent their secondary school been on the “class average” behaving properly surrounded by a regular country-side lifestyle.

-Silvio: March 15th, 1982 High school: Nautical Technical Institute “Sebastiano Venier” school years 1995-2000, mark 72/100. -Luca: March 13h, 1985 High school: surveyor institute “Massari” school years 19982005, mark 80/100.

An important decision that both brothers have taken in their young age were to do not follow any university studies and start their careers experience.

-Silvio: Straight after High School he started a job in his education sector as Maritime Agent in Venice Port, (20002006) which gave him strong knowledges in logistics, foreign languages, administration and business interaction. Following his interest to learn languages, his life changer decision has been to move abroad to London, working as bartender and bar manager, taking his bicycle, he spent almost 7 year woking, living and biking around UK (20062013). -Luca: he was not fully satisfied about his rural lifestyle and mentality, so he decided to move abroad and to start a new life, working and living in Ireland, Dublin. (2005-2007)

Realized he was fitting perfectly this new life, he started to work as youth hostel receptionist which gave him the opportunity to move through Europe (Holland, Spain,U.K. and France) growing his career experience and up-grading his position from hostels to luxury Hotels (2007-2013). A faithful companion of travel was his bike which changed from regular street bike unto fixed gear, showing him a new underground environment.

Being both truly passionate and artistic soul, helped by their abroad experience and life-teacher of maximization of anything passes though their hands, their pulse to save materials found focus on their own street-bike tires. Having no proper tools to handle this strong and virtuous material they begin to work on it with just hands, scissors, puncher, needle and thread: the result was a belt. A belt made by street bike tread, fully handcrafted, super resistant and totally eco-friendly. Starting to produce belts for themselves first, sharing it with friends after, they finally decide that this upcycle

product was ready to be shown to a couple of friend’s shops in Venice and Padua, being sure there is no better test than shops customer approval.

Another important moment of their life has been “the southeast Asian trip”: realizing that being separate from over 6 years they decide to take a break from work and star their first long term trip together heading East.

During those six monhs, relaxing and sharing unforgettable experiences together, they realize that belts were receiving important feedbacks from customers, curious, few bloggers and Journalists which were asking more informations about the two Brothers and their unique product so they decide that at the end of their trip they would quit their jobs and move back home to found CYCLED. (May 2014)

Well, easier to plan in a sunny beach than to make it for real once back home!! ;) The first six months after their return they have been spent sit on a table, planning ahead, writing, discussing how it would have been Cycled future, without touch any tool or tire. First step to face for Potente’s Brothers was raw material supply in fact they started to contact bike-shops asking them to put on a side any racing bike tire they were trowing away. Apparently it seemed an arduous task but the common passion for cycling and a very well planned Project have convinced the 90% of the shop owners around 300km from their hometown. So far more than 200 bike shops replied to Silvio and Luca’s call!

Second step was to build up a transparent and engaging Brand image. Once they succeeded (it’s anyway still a work in progress with the brand evolution) the two brothers felt ready on exploring retail market, agents, distribution and Fairs. Applying to national and international Fairs (Berlin, Copenhagen, Las Vegas) and being accepted and rewarded with great results, their consciousness about proceeding the right path has been confirmed.

(Las Vegas “Five Pillars Social Responsibility” Liberty Fairs http:// libertyfairs.com/shows/las-vegas-shows/ Four years could seems long time but not to build a brand: the brothers says that they’re now approaching the most important bike tire producers, receiving positive responses about using materials, brand, collaborations and official merchandise because those huge Companies also realized and understood how important are Cycled topics.

Recently an important invitation to attend at TEDx Talks during the forthcoming October and they’ve been active part of the Giro d’Italia on savings “famous tires” (pro-cyclists) to start a collaboration you’ll see quite soon. Plans for the future of Cycled, Goals: To focus on making our brand known worldwide using our up-cycle products in order to spread our green manifesto, to make everybody understand and make people feel part of a difficult but doable change.

How many tires / year you save from the landfill: Starting at the end of 2014, we can tell, by our progressive numeration with iron branding the inner side of each belt, we saved from landfill over 8.000 pieces (over 16km flatline) and made all of those satisfied and happy customer, plus counting our stock of tires available in ourwarehouse, we could reach up to 21.000 future belts!

Why you think this is important: It’s extremely important to be an example, to show that it’s possible. Explaining that looking after our pollution/garbage is an essential achievement of each human being.

and how: -enlarging people awareness on recycle/up-cycle. -events and workshops that explain how do we make it. -organising lessons in Primary Schools.. kids are the future.

info@cycledproject.com

Materials Village

↘ event created to promote the development and the diffusion of innovation and sustainability starting with materials

Nazena is a material made through a patented process that allows the recovering of fibers of textile waste in a product upcycling perspective. Starting from the garment no longer reusable, cleaned of accessories (buttons, zips, etc.), the fabric is reduced to flakes and reassembled in the form of panels of different thicknesses thanks to a plant-based binder. The panels thus obtained can be used in stands, retail, packaging. In this way, a second life is guaranteed to fabrics that are currently largely not recovered.

Website: http://nazena.com/it/

Contacts: giulia.derossi@nazena.com

Materials Village - Special Edition a project by Materially

Superstudio Più - Via Tortona, 27 4 - 10 September 2021

In this Special Edition, at the Milano Design Week 2021, Materially presents the seventh edition of Materials Village, the event created to promote the development and the diffusion of innovation and sustainability starting with materials.

Hosted by the Superdesign Show 2021 of Superstudio Più, Materials Village will offer a completely new exhibition format. The indoor exhibition will showcase aspects of the material transformations surrounding our everyday lives; this will demonstrate the innovation and attention to processes that exist at the centre of companies and startups we work with.

An area of the Village will be dedicated to the exhibition “WastEnders” which will present innovative materials and everyday objects coming from agricultural, urban or industrial waste. The value of these products lies not only in the materials that constitute them, but also in the transformation technologies used, the synergy of industrial symbiosis, the established partnerships between the diverse players and the supply chains that all together turn waste into value from a circular economy point of view.

At Materials Village, companies and startups will present materials, showcasing productive processes and technologies aimed towards sustainability and optimization of performances.

Among these companies, Foliae Surfaces focuses on the possibility of rethinking the use of natural raw materials in the production of materials for furniture to propose sustainable alternatives with flexible and post-formable concrete coverings, wall panels and transparent and backlit panels.

The ecological proposal of Hometreschic is expressed in the new collection of cement tiles resulting from research for a finishing technique that respects the environment. Handmade with a low environmental impact processing, they already have a protective treatment in the production phase that does not use chemicals.

Guided by the CYCLE OF GOODNESS® philosophy – no one prospers without rendering benefit to others – YKK aims to contribute to a sustainable society through its products and manufacturing operations; recycling friendly zippers and buttons, sustainable zippers due to the recycled tape made from PET bottles and other post-consumer materials and zippers partially made with the by-product of sugar production which allows for a reduction in its petroleum usage and the associated C02 emissions.

MATERIALLY S.r.l. Impresa Sociale viale Sarca 336 – Ed. 16 20126 Milano T +39 02 8689 1721 E info@materially.eu www.materially.eu

In addition, the initiatives co-financed by European funds, which see Materially participating as an active partner and promoter, are presented. Particular space is given to the Datemats project that focuses on knowledge transfer in designing for and with emerging materials and technologies (EM&Ts), and to the research and innovation project GRETE that develops innovative technologies and processes for the generation of truly sustainable manmade cellulosic fibres.

During the whole duration of the Design Week, all the contents presented by Materials Village and its exhibition will be broadcasted through “Materially Talks”, a series of daily online talks and panels. Among these, Il futuro non è un pacco, in collaboration with EdizioneAmbiente, will delve into the new European guidelines on environmental labeling for packaging and its impact on design, consumptions and business management. Materials Village is a project by Materially. Coordination, Chiara Rodriquez and Federica Pastonesi Exhibit Design, Federica Pastonesi The exhibition “WastEnders” is curated by Anna Pellizzari

Materially helps companies with the development and diffusion of innovation and sustainability starting with materials. It operates with a design oriented approach and attention to themes such as Circular Economy and intelligent innovation thanks to the daily research process and a constant dialogue with the different players in the material world: universities, startups and companies that offer and require solutions to apply to their production processes.

www.materially.eu

Contact information: Maria Giovanna Sicignano gsicignano@materially.eu

Daniela Scalia dscalia@materially.eu

Follow us on: Facebook: @Materiallyeu Instagram: @_materially_ Linkedin: Materially

Materials Village

↘ event created to promote the development and the diffusion of innovation and sustainability starting with materials

Coffeefrom is an innovative bio-based material from post-industrial recycled coffee grounds and a blend of biopolymers, entirely manufactured in Italy. For the food industry and catering, coffee grounds constitute a waste of the production process; in this way, instead, they become a high value raw material with a new life, according to the principles of the circular economy. Coffeefrom adapts to multiple application contexts, representing a zero-waste alternative to traditional plastic.

Website: https://www.coffeefrom.it/it

Nature-L® is a metal free tanning method adopted by Conceria Nuvolari for the treatment of sheepskin for the footwear and fashion industry, which allows to obtain a product free of chromium and heavy metals and certified compostable . Leather is a by-product of the food industry, a waste that through various processes becomes a durable and resistant material. To further reduce the environmental footprint (CO2 and water emissions) of leathers, Conceria Nuvolari adopts natural and low-impact tanning processes, certified by an LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) study.

Website: https://www.santori.com/ Meba Bioresine uses plant-based raw materials from agricultural or food industry waste for the production of resins to manufacture components and accessories for various applications, including fashion.

The biopolymers to form the resins come from non-edible vegetable raw materials, such as oils that cannot be used for human feeding or residues from corn processing.

Website: www.mebabioresine.it

Contact: sara.santori@santori.com

Materials Village

↘ event created to promote the development and the diffusion of innovation and sustainability starting with materials

Ananasse is a material proposed by Verabuccia that recovers the external waste of the fruit transforming it into a new material through an innovative and patented process. The material has a scaly surface, visibly similar to the animal skin of a reptile and with technical characteristics, such as rot, strength, flexibility, which allow the material to be pierced, sewn and dyed in different shades.

WEBSITE https://www.verabuccia.it/

Contacts: francesca.nori@icloud.com

Mixcycling® is a family of biocomposites containing organic fibers derived from agricultural waste (such as rice husk or silver skin) and from industrial production (such as cork, marc, etc.), preferably at Km 0. These waste are inserted in a matrix polymer that can be from renewable, recycled or virgin source, through a patented manufacturing process. Mixcycling® also promotes the creation of a community for the development of tailor-made sustainable materials, to give a second life to various organic waste.

Ricehouse is a family of 100% natural green building materials, including substrates, insulating biomass, mortars and plasters, that incorporate agricultural waste from the rice supply chain. RH 420 finishing coat bio-plaster is a composition based on selected clay of the highest quality, natural hydraulic lime, very pure aerial lime and rice chaff coming exclusively from Italian rice fields, pigmented through the use of natural earth and marble powders. RH 120 finishing coat bio-plaster is instead a composition based on rice husk, hydraulic lime and very pure air lime. On request it can be added with marble or cocciopesto powders.

Website: www.ricehouse.com

Contacts: katerina@ricehouse.eu Website: www.mixcycling.it

Contacts: sofia@mixcycling.com