Green champions in design

‘How should we consider and practice sustainability when we design something new?’ This is a question at the forefront of our minds. The design industry is known for its heavy consumption of materials and resources to create products that focus on commercial viability and aesthetics, resulting in significant environmental impacts.

Aside from environmental sustainability, two other components of sustainability are also considered, namely economic and social sustainability. Environmental sustainability prioritises life-supporting systems, such as the atmosphere, soil, and water. Economic sustainability looks to conserve natural resources (exhaustible or renewable) that provide input for economic production. These include, but are not limited to resources such as raw materials, technology, and human capital. Lastly, social sustainability focuses on the human effects of economic systems, such as fair labour practices, mental and physical health support, and education.

As designers and creators, we play a pivotal role in demonstrating the possibility of creating a sustainable future with innovation and creative solutions, ensuring outcomes that fulfill aesthetics, function & sustainability.

In this index, we explore how some designers, makers and creators have focused their efforts on developing processes and practices to create sustainable products and offerings. Some of these create awareness, while others have developed sufficient manufacturing capabilities to impact and reach the masses.

We categorise them into 3 scales: mass production, small batch makers & one-off artistic commissions.

A1 Environment

Specialty: Fire retardant coffee bio-composite material
Highlights: Turns used coffee grounds into building material, Infinitely recyclable
Scale: Small batch makers
Certification: N/A

About: Giving life to coffee grounds beyond that energy-giving cup of coffee, A1 Environment teamed up with Nanyang Polytechnic’s School of Chemical and Life Sciences to create a fire-retardant coffee bio-composite material that has over 50% of its mass dervied from coffee grounds.

Making full use of a material that was previously only a waste stream, and using less raw materials, this new product identifies the great potential of coffee as a dynamic material. The post-formed product can also be recovered to renew its life cycle into new products, making this an infinitely recyclable material.

Affordable Abodes KENAFCRETE

Specialty: Bio-composite KENAFCRETE panels
Highlights: Using locally grown kenaf fibers to create an alternative bio-composite building material
Scale: Mass production
Certification: N/A

About: Affordable Abodes aims to provide affordable, resilient and sustainable housing solutions for low-income families through the use of locally produced KANAFCRETE. These pre-fabricated panels are made with locally grown kanaf fibers, which exhibit exceptional strength-to-weight ratio and are lightweight, requiring minimal piling and structural reinforcement, allowing builders to construct a one-storey home in a week.

Ayer Ayer

Specialty: Compressed plastic/rubber material
Highlights: Turning waste plastics, rubber, and the like into objects such as furniture or art
Scale: Small batch makers & one-off artistic commissions
Certification: N/A

About: Ayer Ayer Project is a team of artists who collaborate with researchers, biologists, and technologists to harness the power of art and science for the betterment of our collective ecologies.

Using waste plastics, rubber, and the like as a medium, Ayer Ayer combines research data with news and views on the state of our planet into artworks that communicate and engage with the community.

Ferticlay

Specialty: Fertilising Clay
Highlights: Converting waste into alternative clay solutions and the employment of marginalised persons for clay production
Scale: Small batch makers & one-off artistic commissions
Certification: N/A

About: Ferticlay is the brainchild of Jodie and Kok Chung. Combining the study of environmental science, and additive manufacturing with design and horticulture, they convert nutrient-rich waste such as coffee grounds, eggshells, and paper waste into high-value clay substance. They produce various products such as Ferticlay Pack, a mouldable organic clay with slow-releasing fertilising ability, Ferti-beads, a growing medium preventing root-rot and Ferti-cups; a biodegradable seedling cup.

They also provide bespoke services such as 3D printed clay that is 100% biodegradable, with 50% improved strength as compared to regular clay and custom bricks and tiles. Ferticlay also chooses to work with marginalised persons, hiring persons with disabilities, single mothers, and the disadvantaged. This aligns with their mission of seeing value in things that others may consider as lesser.

Gellyvieve

Specialty: Ceramic art and objects
Highlights: Art and objects primarily expressed through clay, with exploration in the use of processed post-consumer waste such as glass as a medium
Scale: Small batch makers & one-off artistic commissions
Certification: N/A

About: An artist and designer, Gellyvieve takes interest in unveiling the invisible architecture that underpins material culture and its systems. While her primary subject is clay, she has recently launched ‘Other Supply’, a research project supported by Design Singapore Council, focusing on the repurposing of glass waste into glazes, addressing the limited glass recycling infrastructure in Singapore.

Ipsa Ipse Ipsum

Specialty:Social-impact driven customisable handcrafted affordable luxury products
Highlights: The transformation of waste into custom, meaningful solutions for hospitality and commercial spaces, while providing social impact to artisans and craftsmen in India
Scale: Small batch makers
Certification:N/A

About: Each product is handcrafted by artisian makers and craftsmen in India, providing meaningful income opportunities for individuals, families, and communities. Meanwhile, their new green initiative, Ipse Green transforms discarded materials into meaningful interior solutions, including rice husks into partition walls, low-value plastics into millwork boards, and reclaimed doors and windows into flooring and decking.

Ioqa

Specialty: Aesthetically pleasing brick and tiles created from recycled industrial waste
Highlights: Merging design with sustainability, Loqa creates tiles and bricks that are sustainable, with considerations towards design and application
Scale: Mass production
Certification: Climate-Neutral Certified

About: Focused on circular thinking, Loqa products are made of at least 85% of waste material. They also consider low energy consumption and non-toxicity. To ensure longevity of use, their products are engineered to be at least double the strength of conventional tiles. Loqa also focuses on aesthetics, producting more than sustainable products, and ensuring adoptability of use by architects, designers and developers alike.

MYCL

Specialty: Mushroom mycelium leather
Highlights: Mylea, a fungus grown on sawdust, is a fibrous but tough material. It’s waterproof, pliable, durable, and most importantly, is far more sustainable than existing plastic-based synthetic leathers or carbon-intensive real leather made from hide.
Scale: Mass production
Certification: B Corp Certified

About: MYCL is a biotechnology startup based in Bandung, West Java Indonesia, that researches mushroom mycelium leather as an alternative for leather-like material. Inspired by the process of making tempeh, the traditional Indonesian protein made from fermenting soybeans with fungi, MYCL has found a mushroom with mycelium that can be made into a binding material, resulting in a sustainable, durable and animal-free fabric. MYCL also uses natural dyes extracted from roots, leaves, and food waste to colour their leather alternative, ensuring an end product that is truly sustainable.

Panalogue

Specialty: Advocate for the use of sustainable finishing in commercial projects
Highlights: Seeks and supplies innovative materials and technology for built finishes
Scale: Mass production
Certification: Based on individual product

About: Through Panelogue, Emily is reshaping the way spaces are built. Specialising in unique, handcrafted surfaces and high-performance wood-based panels gathered from sustainable sources and manufactured through innovative methods, the company endeavours to shift production and consumption patterns. They aim to aid builders, designers, and architects in creating spaces where ecology and urbanisation can progress in parallel.

Polygood by The Good Plastic Company

Specialty: Turning waste plastics into surface panels for commercial use
Highlights: Distinctive surface materials made of 100% recycled and 100% recyclable plastic, ready for commercial use
Scale: Mass production
Certification: Cradle to Cradle Certified Bronze

About: Polygood by The Good Plastic Company is a distinctive surface material made from 100% recycled polystyrene plastics which can be recycled many times over. It aims to bridge the gap between effective recycling practices and successful business models. Polygood panels are produced from a wide range of plastic waste sources, including refrigerators, electronics, single-use cutlery, and industrial consumables.

Roger&Sons

Specialty: Bespoke woodwork such as furniture and objects, with a focus on the use of local timbers
Highlights: The creation of the Local Tree Project, which salvages local felled trees, turning them into durable, future-proof furniture and objects
Scale: Small batch makers
Certification: N/A

About: Under the stewardship of three brothers, Roger&Sons comprises a team of ethical makers and mavericks who craft fine furniture and thoughtful objects. In 2019, they spearheaded The Local Tree Project, which salvages timber from locally felled trees that would otherwise go to waste, transforming them into bespoke furniture and objects.

Semula Asia

Specialty: Plastic recycling
Highlights: Turning waste plastics into reusable materials and objects, giving them new life and reducing the volume of plastic wastes headed for landfills
Scale: Small batch makers
Certification: N/A

About: Semula is a Singapore-based plastic upcycling company dedicated to transforming waste materials into reusable products. Through research and experimentation, Semula has adopted a unique process to transform discarded HDPE plastic waste into a reusable alternative material, reducing the need for businesses to rely on new resources.

Synergraphics

Specialty: Glass art and design studio creating interior and architectural glass solutions alongside bespoke glass pieces
Highlights: Innovation in glass production and production of Eco Glass
Scale: Small batch makers
Certification: N/A

About: Singapore-based glassmaker Synergraphic Design has been at the forefront of innovative and groundbreaking glass artwork locally for the past 35 years. They create beautiful decorative art and furnishings that harness the versatility of the material. Their work spans across art, design, and commercial usage. Synergraphic Design have set up the first hot glass studio in Singapore, introducing LamiArt to the market and pioneering the use of fused glass in commercial projects.

Wild Dot

Specialty: Plant based dyes and living artworks
Highlights: Creation of botanical inks and paints from plants around Southeast Asia, and education on dye creation process and their ethnobotanical uses
Scale: Small batch makers
Certification: N/A

About: Co-founded by digital illustrator, Sharon, and ecologist, Liz in 2019, Wild Dot is born of the duo’s combined passion in Art and Nature. Using local plants and botanicals, Wild Dot makes inks and paints as a substrate for their art making. They hope to use this medium as an opportunity for people to interact with and appreciate the beauty of our intrinsic relationship with local nature.

Zero2.5 Biotech

Specialty:Improving air quality
Highlights:Using ionizing technology to remove PM2.5 pollutants from the air, resulting in an improved air quality beyond WHO’s air quality guideline
Scale:Mass production
Certification: N/A

About: A spin-off from Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory (TLL) in 2019, Zero2.5 is a Singaporean company focused on improving indoor air quality. Their products are ecologically friendly, plant and natural fibre-based. Their biomimicry technology amplifies natural air-cleaning mechanisms to significantly reduce PM2.5 particles and aerosols in the air, while being affordable with a long life cycle, reducing the need for one-off filters.