Highsociety has designed a one-of-a-kind lampshades collection that is made from the by-product of beer production and coffee roasting. The Senilia collection is the outcome of coffee silverskin (the peal of the coffee bean) and spent grains, where these two materials are given a new life by combining mechanical extrusion techniques with handcrafting.
The studio teamed up with renowned Italian coffee manufacturer Hausbrandt who made it possible to upcycle a significant amount of coffee production waste. Furthermore, Highsociety also collaborated with local beer brewing factories, which allowed them to collect spent grains such as barley and hops leftovers. These leftovers represent a high amount of waste in the local region and throughout Italy.
The Senilia collection is fully biodegradable and recyclable. The discarded coffee bean peels and the beer production leftovers are shredded into a granulate, and then mixed with a compostable binder and pressed through an extruder. This helps in ejecting the material under high pressure through a pipe where the material starts to take its tubular shape and is cut down by hand according to the length that is required.
The handcrafting process is a twisted one. The tubes are very soft and can break easily; therefore it needs to be done with patience and precision. The irregular shapes are air-dried for three days to turn the soft body of the lamp into a solid piece. Once the three days are over, the light gets assembled with the additional, final elements such as light bulb, cord and lamp switch.
Image credits: Highsociety