What kind of waste material do you think the stool is made of?
Enter your response – you'll find the solution right below
- Wine29%
- Apple cider13%
- Beer59%
The competition has ended.
What beverage is this stool made of?
26.5.2023
Translation: Eva Francis
Designer Franck Grossel makes his furniture entirely in France. They’re made of a recycled material, among others. Which one? Join the guessing game and cast your vote.
A trained carpenter and product designer, Frenchman Franck Grossel became interested early on in how to create new raw materials from waste. He found a solution in a waste product from the beverage industry, founded his own label Instead Mobilier and presented his first recycled stool at this year’s Milan Design Week. Want to know what waste material the design is made of? You may be able to figure out with the help of the following tips. I’ll reveal the correct answer at the bottom of the page.
Guessing game
The material we’re looking for is used for the seat of the stool. It’s a byproduct of the production of a drink. Two billion litres of this beverage was consumed in France last year. It usually has a warm colour and contains numerous aromatic substances. That’s why it’s considered a stimulant and can make people feel better – temporarily.
Source: Pia Seidel
The big reveal
The seats of the stools are made of brewer’s spent grain, which consists of malt residues and is obtained at the end of the mashing process. It can be recycled industrially or made into animal feed or food for humans. But although there are many ways to use it, this doesn’t often happen, as Grossel says. For this reason, beer production poses environmental, economic and logistical problems for most breweries in terms of disposal.
To avoid these, the designer wanted to make something out of the byproduct. He began collecting spent grain from local brewers, looking for ways to dry the wet substance and make it into a material that could be used for something new. After three years, he succeeded in developing a solid material for furniture construction and offering an alternative to epoxy resin or plastic – with the help of his industrial partners, the right steam equipment and only two per cent binder.
Source: Pia Seidel
The first «brewed» stool named «Le tabouret brassé» is available in three heights and can be turned into a chair with a backrest. Each model is assembled in less than five minutes needing nothing more than an Allen key. The powder-coated metal structure is available in two standard colours, black or white, but can also be customised in any colour of the RAL colour chart.
Pia Seidel
Senior Editor
Pia.Seidel@digitecgalaxus.chLike a cheerleader, I love celebrating good design and bringing you closer to everything furniture- and interior design- related. I regularly curate simple yet sophisticated interior ideas, report on trends and interview creative minds about their work.
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