Salt & Paper

TWO PROJECTS FROM IMM’S PURE TALENTS CONTEST TAPPED UNEXPECTED MATERIALS TO PROMOTE SUSTAINABILITY

Salt by Bastian Thürich

Berlin University of the Arts student Bastian Thürich first began researching alternative sources of mobile energy last May, while taking part in a workshop with award-winning solar designer Marjan van Aubel. Of particular concern to him was the sheer volume of hazardous waste produced from batteries each year. “I found out that 1.4 billion batteries and accumulators were sold in 2016 in Germany alone,” he notes. Thürich’s response is the self-sufficient Salt light, which replaces the rare earth metals and harmful acids found in batteries with three basic ingredients – magnesium, copper and saltwater. This is how it works: The light is designed to rest on its side when off, and must be physically flipped on by turning it upright. At that point, the water rushes to the base, where the copper and magnesium reside; the magnesium passes electrons to the copper wires, and the saltwater functions as the electrolyte, creating a chemical reaction that turns the lamp on. “This project is meant to bring awareness to how we use energy,” Thürich says.

Paper Tiles by Alice Guidi

To develop a ceramic wall tile that also performs as acoustic insulation, Design Academy Eindhoven graduate Alice Guidi began where the paper recycling process typically ends. After being recycled six or seven times, paper fibres become too short to be successfully transformed into another product, and the resultant pulp typically ends up in the landfill. Seeing opportunity where others might see end-of-life, Guidi considered how she could squeeze one last gasp out of the messy byproduct.

“I like to research a material’s possibilities and then stretch its limits,” says Guidi, who mixes the pulp into porcelain powder, sodium silicate and water (without a binder). Adding natural pigments to enhance the material, Guidi hand-forms the resultant ceramic foam into square and rectangular wall tiles before air-drying and firing at 1,280 degrees Celsius for eight hours. Once in the kiln, the paper is burned away and the hardened porcelain is left pockmarked with cavities that prove to have a sound-absorbing quality. And since the paper pulp bulks up the volume of the pre-fired mixture, an added bonus is that less porcelain is needed, further reducing the environmental impact. It’s a seemingly simple solution that could redirect tonnes of waste from dump sites. a-gu.eu