Paper Archives

We are thrilled to announce the winners of Architizer’s inaugural Vision Awards, the world’s biggest awards program dedicated to the art of architectural representation. Sign up to receive future program updates >

Drawing is a reflection of how we imagine new futures. When we leave spaces and lines open to different interpretations, it gives room for diverse meanings and ideas. In turn, drawing styles are wide-ranging, from sketching and more technical techniques to colorful collages and more. The style that a designer or artist chooses gives way to different readings of light, space, form and place.

Celebrating diversity and ingenuity in different drawing styles, Architizer launched the Vision Awards to recognize the students, professionals and studios that are boldly envisioning architecture. The following work represents the winning entries in a variety of categories, all exploring different drawing styles today. From hand drawing to computer-aided and more, they illustrate how to bring buildings and cities to life. Each visionary work is accompanied by the text teams submitted to give context to their drawings or further provoke new readings of the work.

The Last Resort

By Nikhita Sivakumar, Student Winner, 2023 Vision Awards, Hand Drawn Drawing

“The Last Resort, a black hole observatory located in Greenwich Park, is a testament to humanity’s quest for survival and a gateway between alternate dimensions. As the stars emerge each night, the observatory awakens, physicists gathering within hallowed halls and pooling centuries of knowledge into one goal: seeking an inter-dimensional refuge in the race against our planet’s dying climate.

Scientists turn to the God Particle monument, a historic symbol of faith that bridges metaphysical understanding with spiritual reflection. The engineering facility, buried below the surface, aims to develop a voyager that may embark on this journey, whilst the telescope above decodes the nature of Sagittarius A*, located at the galactic centre of our own Milky Way. The Last Resort exists to bind science with the spiritual, drawing on the hope that brings these two worlds together.”

The Iceberg

By CEBRA architecture, Studio Winner, 2023 Vision Awards, Hand Drawn Drawing

“The Iceberg is among the first completed projects in the redevelopment of Aarhus’ former container port for 7,000 residents and 12,000 workplaces, spanning 800,000 meters square — one of Europe’s largest harborfront developments. The client, PensionDanmark, assigned CEBRA to maximize views and sunlight for every apartment. Challenging the master plan of closed blocks, The Iceberg consists of four L-shaped wings. The street spaces between the parallel wings open towards the water.

Founding Partner Mikkel Frost used watercolor to create a cartoonish concept drawing merging ancient techniques and contemporary styles, uniting problem-solving with artistic ambition. To obtain optimal daylight conditions and views over the bay, the angled volumes are cut up by a jagged roof profile. The structure offers well-arranged lighting and views to most apartments — even in the back row. The simple algorithm in the design created a stunning structure of eleven white peaks — like a floating iceberg.”

Fable or Failure

By Alexander Jeong and Brandon Hing, Student Winners, 2023 Vision Awards, Computer Aided Drawing

This imaginative drawing “Fable or Failure” by Alexander Jeong and Brandon Hing won the 2023 Architizer Vision Award for a Student Drawing in the Computer Aided category. Jeong and Hing’s rendering reimagines a multitude of fantastical scenarios through space travel. As the duo notes, “Fable or Failure is a project that seeks to reimagine how space travel can be conceptualized in the distant future of societal development.” Taking the shape of an exploded axonometric drawing, the winning entry uses black, white and grey linework and shading, as well as a single color to denote outer space.

Together, Jeong and Hing are curious in how a visualization can pose questions of space, community and gathering. “Will space travel be dominated by the rich and corrupt with the ability to experience otherworldly and transformative events, commodifying it? Can we imagine a future of space travel dominated by imaginative individuals or kids, optimistic in carrying the hopes of the future of the earth with them to space? Through three distinct parts: navigation, archival and extension, the organization of the shuttle is designed for a plethora of humanity’s desires in space travel.”

Amsterdam City Centre Pub

By Olivia O’Callaghan, Student Creator Of The Year, 2023 Vision Awards

“Where do we go when we read? The pub designed for Amsterdam’s city centre aims to answer this, creating a bar residing in the metaphysical, that through its drawings invite you in, wherever you may be visiting the pub from. The pencil drawings emerge from data collected within the site at dusk when the pub opens. Small devices constructed from black mirrors and poetic fragments were taken to the site at this time and created textual openings to it, using the fragments as locators.

As the site darkened, the black mirrors became more intangible and only came to life out of the amorphous backdrop when aligned with the light from the surrounding nightlife. The data collected by these models at their points of activation became the information from which to tease out a sublime architecture dwelling in the textual world, activating the imagination just as reading does. But, just as when we become aware of the flow of our own reading, we lose access to the imagination of the text, and the entry to the bar. This is a bar that serves up drinks that intoxicate the imagination imagination and make visitors drunk from words alone.

The work aims to use the architect’s imagination as a field of play for data collection of responses to the site that becomes reworked through drawings. All the drawings are created and worked into simultaneously, creating a world in the drawings that is fully realized. Some drawings work to describe how the architecture looks whereas others, through their process, aim to investigate how the architecture operates.

I invite you now to look at the drawings and in visiting and revisiting them, entertain you and draw you in to the pub. The drawings become a condition of entry to the bar.”

VENUE ID PINKLAO-SALAYA “Shirakawa-go”

By LWD.Co.,Ltd, Studio Winner, 2023 Vision Awards, Computer Aided Drawing

“Underlining the idea that CAD drawings can be done in many different styles, the drawing VENUE ID PINKLAO-SALAYA “Shirakawa-go” by LWD.Co was the Vision Awards Studio Winner this year for Computer Aided Drawing. As the team outlines, it was made as an “inspired design that tells the story of a beautiful farming village nestled in the valley alongside the Shokawa River, where one might find an old house reminiscent of a childhood fairy tale.” Reading like a comic, the juxtaposition of angles, moments and frames moves the eye through the drawing and text.

LWD.Co. wanted to create an illustration that highlights the architectural design of Gassho-zukuri houses. “Built using the same architectural characteristics as traditional houses, this design employs the architectural style called Gassho-zukuri. Gassho means hands folded together in prayer. The distinctive feature of this traditional Japanese architectural style is the large gable roof that looks like hands folded together. This creates a beautiful blend between the wooden Japanese frame and the architectural style of a traditional Thai house. This combination is perfect for the hot and humid climate of Thailand; the elevated structure which creates a faux-basement space underneath the house is just one of the unique characteristics of Thai-style houses.”

Treehouses Without Trees

By Thomas Wells Schaller, Professional Winner, 2023 Vision Awards, Hand Drawn Drawing

“There is a universe of possibility that spans the distance between what we look at and what we see. And in that space is our experience of the world. This is what I try to paint — the experience of seeing my world — from perspectives both external and from within. And as such, dreams, memories, and pure imagination are every bit as valid as is anything that can be physically observed.”

Thomas W. Schaller is an artist, architect, and author based in New York City. This work, Treehouses Without Trees, was created in response to lockdowns and inspired by the works of writer Ishiguro. It is a study of connection and isolation, the triumph of aspiration and resource over circumstance, and the looming prospect of an unknown future in a world under siege.

Reference

Sustainable News

Pulpatronics tackles single-use electronics with paper RFID tags

By Zarkon Group,25/10/2023

A group of design graduates from London’s Royal College of Art have come up with a way to make RFID tags entirely from paper, with no metal or silicon components in a bid to cut down on waste from single-use electronics.

Under their start-up Pulpatronics, the team has devised a chipless, paper-only version of a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag – a type of electronic tracker that is attached to products and is most commonly found in clothing stores.

These types of tags have succeeded barcodes in many big retailers, where they allow self-checkout machines to “magically” identify items without scanning anything, while also facilitating inventory management and theft prevention.

However, these types of tags – 18 billion of which are produced every year – are “overengineered”, according to Pulpatronics.

The devices rely on a circuit with a microchip and antenna, usually embedded into a sticker adhered to the paper swing tag. Due to the mix of paper, metal and silicon, they are unrecyclable and tend to end up in landfills.

By contrast, Pulpatronics’ alternative RFID design requires no other material than paper. The company simply uses a laser to mark a circuit onto its surface, with the laser settings tuned so as not to cut or burn the paper but to change its chemical composition to make it conductive.

Life cycle diagram of a Pulpatronics RFID tag compared to a regular RFID tag, showing fewer steps and circularity for Pulpatronics — There are fewer steps involved in making Pulpatronics tags than standard RFIDs

This circuit is carbon-based and the tag can be recycled with household waste as easily as a piece of paper marked with a pencil scrawl.

“This approach streamlines the manufacturing process, eliminates the need for metal and silicon components and significantly reduces the environmental footprint of RFID tag production as a result,” Pulpatronics said.

Pulpatronics estimates its tags will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 70 per cent compared to standard RFID tags while halving the associated price for businesses.

Photo of Pulpatronics prototypes — The design is now being prototyped and tested

The company’s three co-founders came up with the idea for the RFID tags while working on a group project along with a fourth student as part of their Innovation Design Engineering masters course, jointly run by Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art.

Chloe So, Barna Soma Biro and Rui Ma have different backgrounds, ranging from engineering to biological sciences to fashion design, and wanted to consolidate their skills to come up with a design that would have a positive impact on the environment.

“Our approach was slightly different to the rest of the teams in our course,” said Biro, who is Pulpatronics’ tech lead. “We never really started with a problem and then tried to identify a solution to it as you would normally do in a conventional design process.”

“Rather, we investigated various types of interesting technologies that we thought were cutting-edge from a scientific perspective and then brainstormed around what we could create out of them by trying to stay aligned to our values of reducing waste and making technology more accessible,” he continued.

In addition to the paper circuitry, Pulpatronics also applied another of these experimental technologies to dispose of the RFID’s microchip, which is responsible for storing data about the item that is then communicated to the reader via an antenna.

Instead, the “chipless” Pulpatronics tag uses the geometric pattern of the circuit itself to convey the information. In the company’s concept designs, for instance, it’s a labyrinthine pattern of concentric circles.

“This mechanism is similar to barcodes and QR codes in the sense that the information is encoded geometrically, but it doesn’t need to be scanned visually,” said Biro. “It’s basically storing the information in the antenna.”

Render of a Pulpatronics paper RFID tag next to a regular RFID tag, showing the metal circuitry inside the partially torn sticker — The tags can easily recycled together with household waste

So far, Pulpatronics paper RFID tag has passed its first round of testing, where the technology was found to match the performance of a copper-based control RFID tag.

The company – which is longlisted for this year’s Dezeen Award in the sustainable design category – will now stress test the product, looking at its shelf life, durability and whether it is affected by environmental factors.

Pulpatronics is targeting the retail industry first, particularly smaller companies that have not yet made the switch to RFID due to cost. And a preliminary trial with a retail partner in the redeveloped Battersea Power Station is already on the horizon.

Pulpatronics is also pushing for the introduction of a new symbol to designate recyclable RFID tags and raise awareness about the environmental issue of e-waste generated from hidden electronics.

Other single-use electronics in circulation today include disposable vapes and digital pregnancy tests, which show the results of a paper strip test on a tiny screen.

Last year, Australian company Hoopsy launched a paper-based pregnancy test to tackle both the electronic and plastic waste created by these devices.

Reference

Sustainable News

Seeded toilet paper encourages plants to grow with human-waste fertiliser

By Zarkon Group,21/08/2023

Industrial design student Avia Revivi has designed a biodegradable toilet paper named O-SOW, which integrates seeds to encourage plant growth.

Revivi first devised the product to be used by people going to the toilet outdoors during a hiking trip in an Israeli desert.

“There were days when I didn’t encounter any other travellers, but I did come across toilet paper,” the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design student told Dezeen. “That’s when I realised that I wanted to solve this problem.”

O-SOW was made from orange, aloe vera and plant seeds for hikers who “prefer to sow and fertilise the earth, rather than leave human waste behind”. She incorporated orange for its flexibility properties and aloe vera due to its softness.

She explained that the quick decomposition of citrus combined with active E.coli bacteria, which can be found in human faeces, allows the toilet paper to biodegrade quickly when left in the wild.

“Since we are talking about an orange slice, it can easily dissolve in moisture and liquids,” said the designer.

“Animals eat it, it decomposes in the ground and even on a sidewalk on the street.”

Each packet of toilet paper has different seeds woven into it that travellers can choose based on the vegetation in their travel area.

“Seeds of different plants are woven into O-SOW and with the help of the nutrient-rich human waste, natural seeding occurs simply through its use,” said Revivi.

“The seeds I used are mint, peony, rose, parsley and cress, but I aim to map popular trekking areas and assign each a number of seeds suitable for growing.”

In ideal conditions, the seeds in the O-SOW toilet paper can nourish the soil and grow plants when dispersed.

O-SOW is wrapped in single-use packaging made from biodegradable paper, has a tear thread for opening, and a label which highlights the seed type and the number of sheets in the package.

Revivi also designed a case made from leftover parachute fabric which can be used to carry the remaining sheets, once the package is open.

To keep the sheets moist the case also has an inner coating and, for easy opening, it has a layer of polyex which creates high friction allowing the sheets to be taken out individually.

After researching the most adequate and suitable wiping method, Revivi chose a rounded shape as she found its length and width would be suitable for different hand sizes and would allow dual wiping. Each sheet has a smooth side and another side which is slightly dotted to increase users’ grip.

“When choosing the shape, it was important for me that there would be a double response option that would be product-oriented and look pleasant and promising but renewable and supporting the product values,” she said.

“It is a little thicker than toilet paper, very flexible and strong. It can break like ordinary paper, but only if you try.”

To come up with the most efficient and convenient wiping design, Revivi conducted a study with four participants who used the sheet at different points during a two-month trip.

She asked them questions about the material and shape before giving them new products to try based on their feedback.

“It seems that the conventional square-shaped toilet paper we are familiar with doesn’t serve its purpose during the act of toileting,” she explained. “However, manufacturing square-shaped sheets is easier and more convenient for factories, even though the corners remain clean when used.”

“This prompted me to explore and discover a new and innovative way for effective toileting,” she continued.

Other sustainable product design stories recently published on Dezeen include a rewilding trainer which enables the dispersion of plant seeds by Central Saint Martins graduate Kiki Grammatopoulos and a biodegradable juice bottle made from a potato starch-based material.

Photography is by Amit Martin Mansharof and Nadav Goren.

Reference

Sustainable News

A biodegradable coating for paper packaging

By Zarkon Group,14/08/2023

Spotted: Paper is often hailed as the perfect sustainable alternative to plastic packaging, with many consumers instinctively putting paper materials in their recycling bins without thinking. However, many paper-based products are laced with unrecyclable components, such as plastic coatings.

Now, Israeli startup Melodea has a solution – bio-based coatings that protect against water vapour, oil, and oxygen. Made from wood pulp and waste side streams from the paper industry, these 100 per cent plant-based coating solutions are completely recyclable, compostable, and biodegradable. They are suitable for use on paper, paperboard, PET plastic, and bioplastic products, and are also completely non-toxic and FDA-compliant.

Instead of absorbing water and disintegrating, or soaking up grease and becoming unrecyclable, the coatings act as barriers to keep the paper clean and dry. Melodea’s ‘VBcoat’ product resists both water and grease, as does its ‘VBseal’ coating, with the latter also providing heat-sealability to close up the packaging.

Video source Melodea

These can be used on their own or combined with the company’s ‘MelOx’ product to provide an additional oxygen barrier. Until now, most food packaging has relied on unsustainable materials like plastic because it stops the transmission of air, keeping produce inside fresher for longer. MelOx gives eco-friendly paper packaging the same essential oxygen-resistance.

Because Melodea’s solutions can be applied using standard coating technologies, they can be scaled easily and quickly, with the coatings able to protect products from chocolate and cheese to detergent and cosmetics.

In the archive, Springwise has spotted other innovations using paper to make packaging more sustainable, including a paper alternative to bubble wrap and paper bags made from urban biowaste.

Written By: Matilda Cox

Reference

Architecture

Paper Architecture: What’s the Point?

By Zarkon Group,16/05/2023

Architizer’s Vision Awards is a global awards program for architectural media and representation, recognizing the world’s best architectural photographs, videos, visualizations, drawings and models, and the creators behind them. Enter for a chance to see your work published in print: Start Entry >

At first glance, one might assume the question posed in the title of this article is a rhetorical one. With a growing number of industry leaders advocating — with good reason — for students and young architects to receive more real-world construction experience, you could be forgiven for thinking that conceptual projects are a distraction, getting in the way of the invaluable education awaiting designers on the building site.

Make no mistake, though — anyone who tells you paper architecture is pointless needs reminding:

Ideas are the lifeblood of architecture.

Behind each award-winning project we see come to fruition each year, there lie countless sketches, models, and renderings created during the design process, as well as unrealized, theoretical concepts, commonly known as paper architecture. At their best, unbuilt architectural projects — just like their constructed counterparts — hold the potential to tell a powerful story, communicate fresh concepts and advance our profession through ideation.

Left: “Mind Palace” by Mylan Thuroczy, Manchester School of Architecture; right: “Break and Float” by Michael Turner; finalists in Architizer’s One Drawing Challenge competition.

These architectural images, and the ideas they embody, are worth their weight in proverbial gold to the next generation of architects. From the outlandish drawings of Archigram to the abstract paintings of Zaha Hadid, conceptual works form a vibrant exhibition of ideas and inspiration, each contributing to the global discourse over the advancement of the profession and our built environment as a whole.

For this reason, it’s vital that we provide a platform to recognize architectural ideas and visual creations, no matter whether they are built or not.

Enter the Architizer Vision Awards. This brand new awards program is designed to celebrate every form of paper architecture — from napkin sketches and lost competition entries to thesis projects and early models — and give them the global spotlight, now and long into the future.

Enter the Vision Awards

Vision Awards Winners will be published in the inaugural ‘Visions of Architecture’ Anthology, as well as being celebrated year-round through innovative storytelling by Architizer’s team of architectural writers. Film Winners will be premiered in Architizer’s first ever Architectural Film Festival, a unique digital event to air later this year. Every Winner and Finalist will be exhibited on Architizer’s iconic Winners’ Gallery, the definitive directory of world-class architecture and design and an evergreen source of inspiration for the profession.

“Concrete Atla(nti)s” by Hannah Christy and Craig Findlay, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Winner in Architizer’s One Drawing Challenge

Showcasing the Unending Value of Paper Architecture

Whether it is ultimately realized or not, paper architecture is a critical creative outlet for the profession. Drawings, renderings and models provide a perpetual record of the ideation process that architects go through when developing concepts, offering insights into how they approached design problems in the past. To honor the many mediums of architectural ideation, Vision Awards categories include:

Best Architectural Drawing
(2 categories: Hand-drawn, Computer-aided)
Best Architecture Model
(Special category for physical models)
Best Architectural Visualization
(3 categories: Photorealistic, Illustrative/Artistic, AI-Generated)
Architectural Visualizer of the Year
(Portfolio award for studios and professionals)
Architect Creator of the Year
(Mixed media portfolio award for professionals)
Student Creator of the Year
(Mixed media portfolio award for students)

Together with categories for architectural photography and video, these awards will honor the best in architectural representation today, including the most compelling examples of paper architecture. By entering their work, architects can help to build a rich archive of ideas and designs that will motivate future generations of architects and push the boundaries of what is possible in the built environment.

Left: “The Built Pension” by Yehan Zheng; right: HIGH- RISE TOPOLOGY. Infrastructure for energy creation” by Daniel Garzon; Finalists in Architizer’s One Drawing Challenge competition.

A Second Life for ‘Lost Projects’

The Vision Awards presents a golden opportunity for architects to showcase their unbuilt works, including former competition entries, speculative creations, and drawings or models for projects that stalled due to forces outside of their control. There are countless reasons why many brilliant architectural projects are ultimately left on the drawing board: budget cuts, site complications, changes in a client’s strategy or direction, or even some larger and impossible to foresee — like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sometimes, an initial design might contain ideas that are ahead of their time, or deemed too ambitious to be realized when first conceived. Revisiting these ideas in the context of the Vision Awards may inspire new approaches to architecture in future, as new technologies emerge and changing social conditions give rise to new creative possibilities.

By bringing the best unrealized projects and conceptual designs together through the Vision Awards, Architizer is aiming to create a powerful repository of ideas, one that can be a touchstone for emerging architects long into the future. By entering their work for the program, architects can help to build on the legacy of the great ‘paper architects’, contributing to the ongoing creative conversation that fuels the wider profession.

If you are an advocate for the power of paper architecture and its potential to advance the profession, the Vision Awards needs you. Submit your most innovative work before the Main Entry Deadline on June 16th, and let your ideas and those of your firm inspire the next generation of architects!

Start Entry

Reference

Sustainable News

Paper made from fallen leaves

By Zarkon Group,03/04/2023

Spotted: The global e-commerce packaging market is expected to reach a total market value of almost $100 billion (around €92 billion) by 2027, a huge increase from the 2020 value of $35 billion (around €32 billion). Many retailers recognise the high environmental costs such a volume of packaging incurs and are actively seeking recyclable, reusable, and compostable alternatives.

Paper is often considered a better option than plastic, yet some innovators are seeking ways to avoid deforestation by finding alternative sources of cellulose. One of the most successful so far is Valentyn Frechka and his company, Releaf. As a young student in Ukraine, Frechka spent years studying cellulose to find an alternative way of making paper. After testing fallen leaves, he began working on the technology that is now the base for Releaf, an international distributor of paper and paper packaging.

Releaf paper is made exclusively from collected biowaste and recycled fibre. The new manufacturing process uses 15 times less water than traditional paper production and reduces carbon emissions by 78 per cent. Much of the feedstock for the company’s products comes from urban street cleaning teams.

After collection, the leaves are cleaned, dried, and then turned into granules for long-term storage. The granules are stable, allowing the company to keep raw materials on hand for steady production cycles. Releaf produces paper ranging in weight from 70 to 300 grammes per square metre, along with a range of wrapping papers, bags, and e-commerce envelopes. Not only does the Releaf process relieve pressure on the world’s forests – it also helps city governments sustainably dispose of biowaste that would otherwise clog street drains and sewage pipes.

Other paper innovations Springwise has spotted recently include a single-use paper cup with integrated lid and a recyclable paper-based alternative to plastic bubble wrap.

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

Sustainable News

A paper cup without the plastic lid

By Zarkon Group,07/02/2023

Spotted: As they drink their morning takeaway coffee, many people don’t give much thought to the cup. After all, it’s just one cup. But they add up – every year, more than 500 billion single-use paper and plastic cups are manufactured globally. Although these cups are often technically recyclable, it costs more to recycle them than to send them to make brand new plastic lids. Now, one company is tackling the problem of plastic lids by removing them altogether.

ChoosePlanetA has created a single-use cup – dubbed the Good Cup – that has an integrated lid and is made entirely from fully recyclable and compostable paper. The cups pack flat, saving storage space and energy in transportation, and are designed so that the top flap is built into the cup itself, folding and locking into place when closed to create a lid.

The sustainable paper used in the cup comes from EnvoPAP, and is made from renewable sources like sugarcane waste, instead of wood pulp. Manufacturing of the Good Cup is also compatible with existing machinery built to produce traditional paper cups.

Cyril Drouet, co-founder and managing director of ChoosePlanetA, explained: “The impact of the Good Cup’s use is far-reaching and varied; from creating significant savings at the point of production and increasing brand awareness to its most crucial and necessary impact – helping to alleviate the environmental crisis by removing plastic, one lid at a time.”

ChoosePlanetA joins various other companies in the drive for sustainable food and drink containers. Springwise has also spotted a vegetable-oil-based reusable cup, and packaging made from food waste.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Reference

Sustainable News

Notpla salvages seaweed by-product to make paper

By Zarkon Group,03/10/2022

Sustainable packaging brand Notpla has used seaweed leftover from its own production processes to create paper that can be turned into envelopes and boxes.

Notpla introduced its eponymous product Notpla Paper in collaboration with Canopy, a nonprofit organisation that aims to protect forests and animal species threatened by climate change.

According to its creators, Notpla Paper is made from 30 per cent seaweed by-product, which refers to any secondary product that is made as a result of a production process and is often thrown away and wasted.

Notpla – which is a shortening of “not plastic” – uses pure seaweed to create all of its existing products, which include biodegradable condiment sachets and coating for food containers.

The brand explained that it wanted to find a use for the seaweed leftover from its production processes “to make sure nothing is wasted”.

Soap packaging — The material can be used as packaging

“Each of our products uses different extracts of seaweed, leaving the fibrous part of it behind,” Notpla design director Karlijn Sibbel told Dezeen.

“This by-product represents a significant amount of pure raw seaweed. From our desire to utilise every part of the seaweed, the idea to upcycle this material came naturally.”

Paper container — The paper can create containers for various products. Photo is by Longlong Han

Notpla claimed that using one tonne of seaweed by-product could save up to four tonnes of trees being felled, preventing deforestation.

“From a circular mindset in which waste doesn’t exist, we aim to reduce the need for virgin materials as much as possible and therefore prefer the use of by-products,” said Sibbel.

“With the need for seaweed extracts in our other product lines, we want to make sure every part of the seaweed is fully valued and used to the best extent.”

Wine label — A minimal wine label made from Notpla Paper

The brand said that the remaining 70 per cent of Notpla Paper is composed of a mixture of mainly other recycled materials and a small portion of traditional virgin wood pulp.

“Our design process is firstly driven by an environmental point of view,” Sibbel continued. “This means that we use as much seaweed as possible, as little virgin wood as possible and no synthetic additives, which are currently the status quo in papermaking.”

Speckled paper — The paper has a speckled appearance

Speckled and neutrally-toned in appearance, Notpla Paper can be used to package products such as hand soap and toothbrushes, as well as to create boxes, envelopes and labels on wine bottles.

Sibbel explained that while the paper currently contains some virgin wood, Notpla aims to create entirely wood-free paper by 2024.

While the brand did not specify which materials will be used to achieve this, its intention is to blend alternative fibres with the seaweed by-product in order to support the paper’s technical properties.

“Our ambition is to alleviate pressure on forests and decrease the environmental impact of paper manufacturing,” concluded Sibbel.

Hand soap packaging — Notpla aims to create entirely wood-free paper by 2024. Photo is by Longlong Han

Notpla Paper is part of Canopy’s Pack4Good initiative, a project that is challenging brands to create sustainable alternatives to traditional paper packaging.

Founded in 2014 Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez and Pierre Paslier while the pair were studying Innovation Design Engineering, Notpla also manufactures biodegradable seaweed packaging, which was shortlisted in the sustainable design category at the 2021 Dezeen Awards.

The images are courtesy of Notpla and by Longlong Han where stated.

Reference

Hoopsy paper pregnancy test and its packaging sitting on the side of a bathroom sink

Sustainable News

Hoopsy is a paper pregnancy test designed to tackle plastic waste

By Zarkon Group,14/09/2022

Australian start-up Hoopsy has created a recyclable pregnancy test that is 99 per cent made out of paper, aiming to stop millions of single-use plastic versions ending up in landfill each year.

The Hoopsy “eco pregnancy test” is made almost entirely out of paper, with cardboard packaging that can be recycled in domestic bins. Only the pouch the test comes in is made of soft plastic and needs to be recycled through supermarket collection.

The company aims for its products to replace plastic home pregnancy tests, 12.5 million of which it says are completed each year in the UK before being thrown in the bin.

Entrepreneur Lara Solomon founded Hoopsy after going through IVF and embryo donation procedures that made her realise just how many times people who are trying to conceive test themselves.

She said she used “countless” pregnancy tests in the 14-day period following her embryo transfer. She then went on to develop the product, naming it after the Dutch word for “hope”.

“I feel that when you do a pregnancy test there is a lot of hope – a ‘hope I am’ or a ‘hope I’m not’!” Solomon told Dezeen. “Plus, it also has connotations with jumping through hoops in life, which is sometimes what trying for a baby feels like.”

Paper pregnancy test and packaging sitting on the edge of a basin — Only the pouch the test comes in is made of plastic

“On top of this, there’s hope for the future that this product can help reduce plastic waste,” she continued.

Hoopsy has been approved for sale by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency following clinical trials that showed it was over 99 per cent accurate from the day of a person’s expected period.

Like most home pregnancy tests, it works by measuring levels of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG, commonly known as the pregnancy hormone) in the urine.

The test is taken midstream, which Solomon said most users prefer to strip tests that require prior collection of the urine in a container. To use it, a person holds the end of the test with the Hoopsy logo while placing the other end in their urine stream for three to five seconds.

Cylindrical Hoopsy container with 10 test packets in front — The test has been approved for sale in the UK

They then place the test on a flat surface and wait five to 10 minutes to read the result. Afterwards, the paper test can be cut in half so the part that’s been urinated on can be put in the bin while the clean portion goes in paper recycling.

Hoopy was developed entirely in-house by Solomon and the manufacturer, but she hopes to work with an external design team for the second iteration of the product, which she aims to make from 100 per cent paper.

She would then like to go even further in challenging the pregnancy test market, which also features digital tests that have been shown to sometimes feature extra gadgetry to translate the lines on the test trip into words on a screen.

Woman's hand holds a Hoopsy test strip while sitting in a bathroom — The test is taken midstream and is more than 99 per cent accurate

“I’d love to see all plastic tests phased out eventually,” said Solomon. “I think that the pregnant/not pregnant digital screen version instead of two lines is not necessary.”

“The ‘number of weeks’ tests are more tricky to replicate in a non-plastic way, but I am confident we could look at a non-digital version as a way to stop that waste.”

Another single-use plastic testing product that has recently been given a recyclable reimagining is the Covid 19-test. Design agency Morrama came up with a concept design made from moulded paper pulp and NatureFlex film.

Reference

Paper

Paper Architecture: Diversity of Drawing Styles Hint at New Directions for Visualization

The Last Resort

By Nikhita Sivakumar, Student Winner, 2023 Vision Awards, Hand Drawn Drawing

The Iceberg

By CEBRA architecture, Studio Winner, 2023 Vision Awards, Hand Drawn Drawing

Fable or Failure

By Alexander Jeong and Brandon Hing, Student Winners, 2023 Vision Awards, Computer Aided Drawing

Amsterdam City Centre Pub

By Olivia O’Callaghan, Student Creator Of The Year, 2023 Vision Awards

VENUE ID PINKLAO-SALAYA “Shirakawa-go”

By LWD.Co.,Ltd, Studio Winner, 2023 Vision Awards, Computer Aided Drawing

Treehouses Without Trees

By Thomas Wells Schaller, Professional Winner, 2023 Vision Awards, Hand Drawn Drawing

Pulpatronics tackles single-use electronics with paper RFID tags

Seeded toilet paper encourages plants to grow with human-waste fertiliser

A biodegradable coating for paper packaging

Paper Architecture: What’s the Point?

Showcasing the Unending Value of Paper Architecture

A Second Life for ‘Lost Projects’

Paper made from fallen leaves

A paper cup without the plastic lid

Notpla salvages seaweed by-product to make paper

Hoopsy is a paper pregnancy test designed to tackle plastic waste

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