Spotted: Many small sustainable businesses offer great products, but lack the tools and resources to tell the full story of their items. In a world filled with products, it is easy for these manufacturers to lose out. German startup Seedtrace has developed a platform that allows food companies to prove their product’s sustainability, as well as manage and communicate their social and environmental impact to consumers.
Seedtrace’s platform includes a supply chain software solution that provides transparency to every stage of a food product’s journey. It also includes tools that allow businesses to then incorporate this transparency information into an online store, or other marketing materials. The cloud-based infrastructure allows high scalability, privacy, and security, allowing users to access their supply chain data ‘whenever and wherever’.
The platform helps small businesses bring transparency into complex supply chains, helping organisations validate their claims by tracing products ‘from seed to shelf’. By helping businesses better manage, prove, and communicate value chain information, Seedtrace enables businesses and consumers to better understand the positive impact of sustainable products. Product transparency is turned into a unique selling point.
On its website, the company describes its product as helping organisations with “customer communication at every stage of the sales process and at all [their] customer touchpoints”. This allows brands to build strong relationships with their customers quickly.
Provable transparency is becoming a vital component in supply chain management, and Springwise has spotted a number of projects focusing on this area. These include everything from a marketplace connects verified buyers and sellers of scrap metal to reduce carbon emissions to digital tags for shellfish that ensure seafood traceability.
More work is needed to improve the sustainability of trade fairs like Salone del Mobile, designers told Dezeen at Milan design week.
British designer Tom Dixon warned it could take a decade for brands to transform their operations at events like Salone in order to reduce emissions and resource consumption.
“It’s a lot of people coming from all over the world – it’s a lot of carbon footprint just embedded in the flights,” he said. “I think we’ve got to rethink completely how we show [products], where we make them, where we transport them to, and the rest of it, but that’s a project which is a 10-year project.”
Need “to rethink completely” how products are showcased
Norm Architects’ Frederik Werner, in Milan to exhibit a collaboration with Japanese furniture maker Karimoku, suggested that fewer trade fairs should take place during the year to cut the carbon cost.
“I think for the setup of the fair itself there’s no hiding from it, it’s kind of crazy how much is being produced and built, and that’s just the reality right now,” he said.
“I think probably the main issue is that there’s so many venues around the world doing the same, with things being shipped around. It somehow makes sense to create one hub for it to happen.”
Around 2,000 brands showcase their products at Salone, shown here during setup. Photo by Andrea Mariani (also top)
Salone del Mobile was held in Milan last week, back in its conventional April slot for the first time in four years following covid disruptions.
It is the world’s biggest design fair and forms the trade centrepiece of Milan design week.
The organisers have sought to improve the sustainability of the event in recent years, signing up to the UN Global Compact corporate sustainability pledge for 2023 and updating voluntary guidelines for exhibitors.
In an interview prior to the event, Salone president Maria Porro told Dezeen that the fair has tried to use recycled and recyclable materials and work with organisations committed to caring for the planet.
But with 2,000 brands showing their products at the week-long show and around 400,000 visitors expected, mostly from overseas, some remain concerned about Salone’s environmental impact, including Dezeen columnist Katie Treggiden.
“We’re all part of it, as we flew to Milan”
“We can’t walk around the city, gelato in hand, and pretend that almost 2,000 international brands haven’t shipped or air-freighted their wares into the Rho Fiera Milano fairgrounds,” Treggiden wrote in a recent piece.
Dutch designer Maarten Baas deliberately referenced the contradiction of promoting more sustainable designs by flying them to Milan in a collaboration with fashion label G-Star RAW.
His More or Less exhibition for the brand features a private jet wrapped in denim.
“Each year in Milan, I enjoy the tragicomic dialogue between green design and mass consumption,” he told Dezeen.
“We’re all part of it, as we flew to Milan to enjoy our prosecco next to some works of recycled materials.”
Around 400,000 people visit the fair, which is the world’s largest. Photo courtesy of Salone del Mobile
Nevertheless, designers argued there is still a value to large-scale physical events like Salone.
“Airplanes aren’t sustainable but I think people coming to see art and people coming to see new ideas is always a benefit to society,” said Santiago Brown of New York-based Forma Rosa Studio.
“The issue is transportation, but it’s super important for people to see art and not just on Instagram.”
“In this digital era you can see everything online but, especially with materials when it’s about the haptic, the touch, the interaction, you come to a better understanding of the research project when you see it with your eyes, when someone talks to you about it,” added Crafting Plastics’ Vlasta Kubušová.
“So for me, it still makes sense to do this once a year I think, even if we have to travel – and we always will travel.”
Studios and brands try to use less materials
Jussi Laine of Nemo Architects, who designed the Habitarematerials installation at Milan design exhibition Alcova, said he is “absolutely” concerned about the environmental impact of Salone.
He said it was important for designers travelling to Milan to use it as an opportunity to learn about how to make their work more sustainable.
“Design shows are a way to pass information and knowledge,” he told Dezeen. “It is really up to us how relevant the message is, and also up to us how we receive that information and act upon it.”
Brands and designers have attempted to improve the sustainability of their activities in Milan, especially by planning for the re-use of materials.
“For this year’s fair we’ve tried to work with systems and patterns that we can reuse for next year, so all the louvres and lamellas can be stored and put away again,” said Werner.
“Half of the furniture collection I think might be taken to our next exhibition instead of being shipped back to Japan.”
“Our booth is made out of storage racks that we took from our own storage,” Mexico-based David Pompa told Dezeen.
“So we took them, we built them down, we build them up here and we’re going to build them up again in our storage after the exhibition. So we’re not throwing away anything.”
However, Dixon admitted it was still “difficult to claim total sustainability”.
“We’ll reuse a lot of this stuff,” he said. “I’m sure a lot of people are thinking about how they can do that.”
“But it’s difficult to claim total sustainability in the context of fairs, I’m not going to try and greenwash you on this one.”
Milan itself is frequently ranked among Europe’s most polluted cities, though it is working on an ambitious project to construct 750 kilometres of bike lanes by 2035 as part of a strategy to become net-zero by 2050.
Additional reporting by Cajsa Carlson and Jennifer Hahn. The photography is courtesy of Salone del Mobile.
Salone del Mobile 2023 took place from 18 to 23 April at the Fiera Milano exhibition centre, Italy. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
Spotted: Although it’s difficult to ascertain due to the sheer volume of publishing channels, experts estimate that around two million scholarly articles are published each year. Staying up to date with research in a certain field is such a big undertaking that scientists are never able to read all the papers relevant to their work. Artificial intelligence (AI), however, can read much, much more content than a human.
New platform ScoutinScience is putting the volume of information that AI can process to use as a way to identify scientific work that is relevant to a particular organisation, identifying studies with the most potential for commercial technological applications. Using natural language processing techniques, the company’s ‘GreatAI’ platform gathers, processes, and reviews scientific publications from a range of publishers, both public and private. The ensuing report provides a Business Potential Score that ranks the research’s tech-transfer potential.
GreatAI connects with other databases outside the field of publishing as a means of contextualising research. The additional analysis helps situate the data within bigger picture industry trends, and ScoutinScience emphasises the understandability of its dashboards – making science easy to understand means it’s easier to spot and create opportunities for development and use.
Using technology to make knowledge more accessible is an exciting development that Springwise is spotting in a variety of areas, including bringing digital literacy into the teaching of traditional educational subjects and using VR to teach methods for combatting discrimination.
Design consultancy Matter has redesigned the Royal British Legion remembrance poppy to be created entirely of paper made from coffee cup waste and recycled wood fibres, the first change in the flower’s design for 28 years.
According to Matter, the paper poppy will reduce carbon emissions by 40 per cent compared to the previous design, which had a paper leaf and petals held in place by a plastic stem and black circular centre.
The remembrance poppy has been redesigned to be made entirely from paper
Matter’s redesign aims to remain true to the original recognisable poppy but replaces all plastic elements with paper. The entire poppy can be recycled at home via household recycling collections.
It has been designed to be produced on a high-speed assembly line without the need for adhesives, with crease details on the paper’s surface that help to give the poppy a 3D shape.
The plastic-free poppy can be fastened by a pin or inserted into button holes and aims to encourage more people to support this year’s Poppy Appeal, an annual charity campaign organised by the Royal British Legion that raises money for veterans and their families experiencing injury, hardship or bereavement.
The paper was made from recycled materials
It will be available alongside remaining stocks of the previous poppy in the lead-up to Remembrance Day on 11 November.
“We didn’t want to simply reduce single-use plastic but to eliminate it completely, and we didn’t want to replace plastic parts with expensive and complicated bio-based plastics,” said Matter director John Macdonald.
“Paper offered a single-material solution that could be easily recycled, as well as offering a bold, elegant approach for the next generation of poppies.”
Matter created the poppy in collaboration with paper manufacturer James Cropper, which has made the paper for remembrance poppies since 1978.
James Cropper developed two bespoke papers for the new design, Poppy Green and Poppy Red, made from a combination of 50 per cent recycled fibres from the production of coffee cups and 50 per cent from recycled wood fibre.
The plastic-free poppy will be available for this year’s Poppy Appeal
“We’re proud to have designed a plastic-free poppy that will enable people to show their support for our Armed Forces community in a more sustainable way,” said Gary Ryan, executive director at The Royal British Legion.
“Matter has played a fundamental role in reducing the environmental impact of the new poppy whilst maintaining the iconic poppy design that the public can wear with pride.”
Earlier this year, former Apple designer Jony Ive revealed his redesign of the Red Nose Day nose for UK charity Comic Relief, which saw the iconic clown-style nose reimagined as a foldable paper sphere. In Australia, start-up Hoopsy has created a pregnancy test made from 99 per cent paper.
Spotted: Every hour, people across Germany buy 320,000 hot drinks in single-use disposable cups. And although many manufacturers have been working to make their cups recyclable, the reality is that – in Germany and beyond – little single-use packaging actually gets recycled. German startup GaeaStar has come up with a novel approach to reducing the waste, having developed disposable cups made from clay.
GaeaStar has proposed to make its cups on a special 3D printer that can create a cup in 30 seconds or less. The company plans to use a micro-factory model, establishing cup-printing centres near customers and sourcing clay locally. GaeaStar even foresees restaurants and takeaway spots having their own tabletop printers, and the cups be easily etched with a corporate logo as part of the printing process.
The cups can be washed and reused as many times as customers want and when it’s time for disposal, the cup can simply be smashed or used as a plant pot. While many clay pots can take thousands of years to decompose, the GaeaStar cup is thin and made of unglazed and unfired clay, which means it will decompose fairly rapidly.
GaeaStar recently completed a $6.5 million (around €5.9 million) seed round from investors including Morningside and Dart Labs. This is on top of an earlier $1.7 million (around €1.6 million) pre-seed round. The funds will go, in part, towards introducing the clay cups into the US in a trial with the Verve coffee chain in California, and conducting a complete life-cycle analysis of the environmental cost of the clay cups.
3D printing is rapidly becoming an important tool in developing more sustainable products. In addition to printed reusable cups, Springwise has also spotted the technology used for the manufacture of biodegradable glass and to produce fully-recyclable, custom footwear.
Spotted: Strokes are the world’s third-leading cause of death and disability combined, and costs more than $721 billion (around €658 billion) annually. The World Stroke Organization reports that the global burden of disability-adjusted life-years lost “increased substantially” from 1990 to 2019 and calls for ‘urgent measures’ to improve post-stroke health outcomes. One method making it easier for providers to see patients sooner is telehealth, which, when combined with robotics technology, brings a range of new methods of care into the home.
The LifeGlov robotic glove brings grip strength and hand mobility rehabilitation services directly to the patient. Created and built by Scottish healthtech company Bioliberty, the LifeGlov reduces travel and wait times for patients while supporting personalisation in care from providers.
The glove is connected to a digital therapy platform to provide exercises tailored to each individual’s capability and strength at the time most convenient for them, and the platform also reminds patients to use their weaker hand and arm in everyday tasks. Healthcare professionals use the platform to monitor rehabilitation programme effectiveness and make quick adjustments to exercises when needed based on a patient’s ability.
Having recently raised £2.2 million (around €2.5 million) in investment, Bioliberty plans to build rehabilitation clinics for a 2024 North America launch. Longer term development will focus on expanding the glove’s capability and the supporting technology in order to provide rehabilitation for other limbs and parts of the body.
Springwise has spotted other technology being used to assist stroke patients, including an inflatable glove and an assistive robot.
Spotted: The global loss of crops due to untreatable pest damage and plant disease is estimated to be between 20 and 40 per cent. With extreme weather exacerbating difficult growing conditions, the recent emergence of a treatment-resistant wheat fungal disease is additional bad news for cereal farmers. Data science company Fermata has an artificial-intelligence-powered (AI) solution that helps growers spot disease early and track plant changes over time.
Called Croptimus, the data platform is available as a subscription service that includes installation and management support. After the initial installation, the algorithms need two to three weeks to adjust and learn what the farm team wants to track, with data and imagery then available in real-time online.
As well as reducing labour costs, the system helps reduce pesticide use by up to 25 per cent. Automated alerts let growers know when a pest or change in growing conditions is identified. Chemical applications can be applied directly to the affected areas, with no guesswork needed to determine how far a disease has spread.
The cameras use ethernet cables for power, and each camera visually covers 400 square metres of land, and Fermata provides custom quotes and designs for each plot’s specifications. Right now, the AI monitors problems that affect fruits, leafy greens, and medicinal crops. These include powdery mildew, spider mites, and aphids, and the technology is being trained on additional diseases and insects, as well as an increasing number of crops.
The use of data in agriculture is constantly improving, with Springwise spotting innovations that include the use of weather data to speed up insurance payments in the event of drought or flooding, and a modelling system that predicts frost in microclimates where high value crops are growing.
Economic growth has been a defining feature of the past 50 years of human history. And this has had a positive impact by lifting billions out of poverty. In fact, the World Bank reports that, in China alone, 800 million people have risen above the poverty line over the past forty years.
However, to date, economic growth has been inextricably linked to the ever-more-intensive extraction and consumption of natural resources. ‘Material footprint’ is a measure of the total amount of raw materials extracted to meet global demand. And, according to the UN, this figure has risen from 43 billion metric tonnes in 1990 to 92 billion tonnes in 2017. Moreover, the International Resource Panel estimates that we could be consuming 140 billion tonnes of minerals, ores, fossil fuels, and biomass annually by 2050.
This situation is clearly unsustainable, which has led to the rise of the concept of the ‘circular economy’. Today, we can think of our economy as ‘linear’ in the sense that, for the most part, our resources are converted into products that are then disposed of as waste at the end of their useful life. By contrast, in a circular economy, waste materials are turned back into fresh resources.
If successfully implemented, this economic model could reduce our reliance on virgin materials and de-couple growth from resource consumption. But to make the circular economy a reality, we need solutions that promote the ‘five Rs’: reduce, refuse, recycle, repair, and reuse.
Many such solutions will be on display at ChangeNOW in Paris between 25th and 27th May. Here are five of the best.
Europe’s top three coffee-consuming countries drink more than 1,000 cups per person every year. Many companies encourage the use and washing of mugs and bowls in the office, and with a goal of reducing the water used to provide such a service, French company Auum has created a new method of cleaning. The Auum-S single glass dishwasher is made from a patented design that disinfects reusable cups in 10 seconds, allowing one washer to clean up to 2,000 glasses per day. The company is building a circular economy with French-made parts and assembly, along with a rental service that ensures that machines are properly maintained, and glasses recycled at the end of their life. The countertop washer cleans a single glass using 140-degree Celsius dry steam and less than a single ounce of water per wash. The high temperature negates the need for chemicals. Read more
Batteries are found everywhere in modern life, and around 15 billion are produced and sold for household use every year around the world. All these batteries need to go somewhere when they run out, and the vast majority end up in landfills, where they leach toxic substances that pollute the soil, water, and air. To tackle this problem, startup BeFC (Bio-enzymatic Fuel Cells) has developed a battery made from paper cellulose. The twist? Instead of incorporating metal or chemical catalysts, which are often expensive to source and harmful to the environment, BeFC’s system uses biological enzymes to convert natural substrates, such as oxygen and glucose, into electricity. The paper-based cells are extremely thin and flexible. This means they are highly compact and perfect for use in low-power, portable, and disposable electronics – including medical wearables, which are normally powered by button-cell or lithium batteries. And because the batteries are bio-based, they are biodegradable, which means that they can be easily and safely disposed of or recycled. Find out more
Polyurethane is a polymer material used in a range of common products from plastics and construction filler foams to adhesives. A group of compounds known as polyols are essential for making polyurethane, and today these are mostly derived from petroleum. However, polyols can also be derived from natural plant-based sources. To date, most of these alternative ‘biopolyols’ have been derived from virgin feedstocks or plants that compete with food production for land resources. As a result, they pose their own sustainability challenges. Now, Cyprus-based company Ecorbia has developed ‘Crudyol’ – a biopolyol made through chemical upcycling of biomass byproducts. This material is truly compatible with circular economy principles as it provides a cost-effective method for putting a range of industrial waste streams to good use. Find out more
The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that the buildings and construction industry was responsible for 39 per cent of process and energy-related carbon emissions in 2018, 11 per cent of which come from the production of building materials. Italy-based architectural firm Ricehouse is on a mission to build houses more sustainably, by using rice by-products. The company uses natural waste residues, such as rice straw, husk, and chaff to create circular construction materials, including thermal insulating plasters, finishings, lightweight screeds, and prefabricated panels. Read more
Animal leather has multiple negative environmental impacts. To start with, raising livestock takes up a lot of land and contributes to deforestation and the disruption of vital carbon sinks. On top of that, leather tanning can lead to toxic chemicals, such as chromium, entering the environment. And, at the same time, huge amounts of fashion waste is sent to landfill each year. Now, North Macedonia’s L&E Studio is developing a new, more sustainable approach to designing and producing handbags. The studio employs local craftsmen who use cruelty-free leather alternatives to make the fashion accessories. Each bag comes with a lifetime guarantee and a repair service, and is made exclusively of recycled or upcycled materials. Find out more
Springwise is a proud partner of ChangeNOW, which takes place in Paris 25-27 May 2023. As the world’s largest event for the planet, the three-day international summit brings together entrepreneurs, businessleaders, and policymakers to accelerate change.
Spotted: Around 70 per cent of all food waste in the UK comes from households, which equates to around 6.6 million tonnes a year. To help tackle this, Kitche was launched to help families avoid throwing away food. The company has found that the most effective strategies are preventative, so aims to target food waste at the source.
Kitche has developed an app that lets users import their food to keep track of what they have at home, and users can also scan supermarket receipts to update their virtual inventory. Based on what is recorded on the app, Kitche will send reminders of when foods need to be eaten or frozen, and lets users move products between “To buy”, “At home” and “Ditch” lists. The app also has recipes to help customers use up all their products efficiently.
Since launching three years ago, Kitche has had nearly 65,000 downloads in the UK and earlier this year, the app had a re-launch with new features. For instance, the new Impact Section allows users to see the results of tracking their food waste, including water, CO2, food, and money savings. To make the app even more convenient, Kitche has also made it possible to add food products to the app by voice or scanning by barcode. Other new features include an Explore Section, which includes a lifestyle magazine-style collection of top tips and recipes, and a Community Section where people can connect and become Kitche Ambassadors to earn unique elements both in and outside the app.
There are so many innovations out there helping to tackle food waste. Springwise has spotted a startup turning wasted fresh produce into healthy snacks and another transforming broccoli waste into plant protein.
Copenhagen-based Natural Material Studio and designer Zuzanna Skurka have created an installation at Milan design week from soft bio textiles made from surplus bricks.
Called Brick Textiles, the project is on display at Alcova – a travelling exhibition platform for independent design that is held at a different disused site in Milan each year.
Natural Material Studio and Zuzanna Skurka created textiles from waste bricks
Natural Material Studio worked with Polish designer and researcher Zuzanna Skurka to create the textiles from highly porous repurposed bricks that were classified as waste after demolition projects.
“Rule one is, you should work with materials that are already there,” studio founder Bonnie Hvillum told Dezeen in Milan.
The project is on display at Alcova in Milan
The textiles were made from a combination of crushed bricks bonded together with Procel – a home-compostable, protein-based bioplastic of natural softener and pigments developed by Natural Material Studio.
Featuring a distinctly reddish hue, the textiles were divided into large, roughly-cut slabs that hang suspended from the roof on metal bars in a room at Alcova to form a dramatic installation illuminated by skylights.
Swirly patterns made by the crushed bricks characterise the textile
Natural Material Studio and Skurka drew upon traditional weaving techniques to create the textile, which was made by incorporating bricks and Procel into a “biomaterial matrix”, according to Hvillum.
The material owes its strength, colour and texture to the bricks, which create unique swirly patterns on each slab that are produced randomly during the “fluid casting process”, she explained.
Hvillum described the product as a “biomaterial matrix”
“We were very curious about this question of how can architecture be flexible, more simple and translucent even? added Hvillum. “It’s all the opposite aspects of a brick.”
“When we think of brick it’s like a solid, rigid, structural wall,” she continued. “But how can we make more flexible and fluid architecture today?”
Examples of the bricks the designers used are positioned underneath the textiles
Holes were pierced into the corners of the slabs so that they can be linked together.
While the water-resistant textile is already being used by interior architects as room dividers, Hvillum said that the studio hopes that one day it could form whole walls.
“The way we build and how we live in the built environment shapes us, so if we can build a more flexible and organic biomaterial, we want to start the exploration of what that experience is,” she continued.
This year, the Alcova exhibition takes place at a former slaughterhouse in Porta Vittoria. The formation of brick-based textiles hangs from metal bars where meat once hung at the site.
“There’s something funny and a little bit rough about that image,” acknowledged Hvillum.
The textiles hang where meat was once suspended in the former slaughterhouse
The materials specialist explained that Brick Textiles intends to salvage something from the past and propose fresh ways of thinking about an existing resource.
“It’s new materials we’re developing, so we still don’t know everything about them,” she reflected. “And that’s the beauty and honesty of it.”
Established in 2018, Natural Material Studio has created a number of repurposed materials for wide-ranging projects. These include crockery for a seafood restaurant made from leftover scallop shells and clothing created with algae, clay and foam.
Brick Textiles is on display at Alcova from 17 to 23 April 2023 as part of Milandesignweek.See our Milandesignweek 2023 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.
