In London, biotech startup Biohm has created a line of lampshades using coffee waste and orange peels. Made from Orb, Biohm’s name for its “refuse bio-compound” derived from agricultural byproducts and plant-based adhesive, the shapes demonstrate a collaboration between “maker” and “matter.” In other words, the maker attempts to create a desired geometry, while the matter is given some freedom to “bend and flow” according to its own composition.
“There has never been a more critical time to be doing the work we do at Biohm,” Ehab Sayed, founder and director of innovation at Biohm, tells Yanko Design. “Recent events have emphasized how our economies and systems are flawed and unsustainable, and that we need to immediately implement radical and regenerative biotechnologies delivered through equitable and compassionate business models to make leaps in the fight against the climate crisis.”