New Menu


     Food is a product. Like many others, it is conceived, designed, built, packaged and consumed. It is a system that in entirely different forms, scales and ways has always existed, demonstrated by jugs, tools and artefacts, which we continue to find of ancient civilizations. However, the current production system has a substantial consequence compared to all our ancestors. The production cycle, which has always been circular, has become modern and linear: producing tons of waste or by-products. This interrupted process, added to the foreseeable increase in global population, makes it necessary to rethink our production system as a whole. This project imagines new systems, new production methods and new materials.

















     The outcome of this material research about food waste is a material created on the base of nutshells. Nuts and seeds are used in a wide range of products. During production, a thousand of tons of shells are thrown away every year, since there is no useful application for them within the industry. The project gives these shells from walnuts, cacao, peanuts and macadamia nuts a new life and a greater value. By combining them with a binder based on shredded bones, which is also a by-product of the food industry, a new material is created which is easily biodegradable without harming the environment. With this material, a collection of plates and bowls was designed.





























Contributors:

     PROJECT INITIATOR  Harry Thaler↗    
     CACAO SHELLS  Oberhöller Chocolate KG↗
     PROJECT SUPPORT  IDM Südtirol↗
     SUPERVISION  Harry Thaler↗, Alessandro Mason↗


Context

     Project developed at unibz↗