Designer Insights: The Future of Offices
Vol.5 The cutting edge of sustainable furniture and interior products
A table made from used coffee capsules
Coffee is enjoyed daily in a wide variety of places and situations. There are several types of coffee products, but capsules filled with coffee grounds are among the most popular. The advantages are that capsules retain the freshness of the grounds and the user can choose the flavour they like. These capsules are often made of plastic.
Two Italian companies, illy and Kartell, are working on ways to upcycle not only used capsules but also unusable capsules that fail to meet specifications during production. illy is a long-established espresso brand, while Kartell is known for its furniture manufactured with cutting-edge technology. Both are the kind of world-famous companies Italy is known for.
Kartell receives used capsules and pre-shipment rejects from illy, clushes them into pellets suitable for injection moulding, and reuses them as a material for furniture. It took two years to finish setting up this process.
Because capsules of various colours are dissolved together, colour options are limited, but by adding cloth to the resin base and using a design from the apparel brand Missoni, Kartell has been able to create stylish and elegant chairs.
The first products making use of this process were announced in 2022, and it gathered attention in 2024 when the “A.I. console” table was added to the lineup. It was designed by Philippe Starck, said to be one of the most famous designers in the world. The A.I. series is designed with the help of an artificial intelligence trained with Philippe Starck’s past designs and it aims to minimise the use of materials while retaining durability. It is an ambitious product that approaches sustainability from two directions: using upcycled material and minimising how much of it is needed.
How to use sustainable materials is of course a major topic in large-scale architecture, but also in fields ranging from furniture to novelty items. Users expect the world of interior design, too, to show how they can be developed further into attractive designs and products that people would be excited to use.
Yasushi Yamazaki／Journalist (JDN director)
With a strong interest in design, Yamazaki joined Tanseisha. In 1997, he participated in the launch of the company’s new business venture, the design information website “Japan Design Net (JDN).” He also worked on establishing “Toryumon” and “Design no Oshigoto” as business projects, managing the planning and operations of design contests. After serving as editor-in-chief, he assumed his current position. He continues to conduct interviews related to design, as well as coordinating talks and judging panels.