Austrian eyewear manufacturer Rolf has designed a collection of glasses that are 3D printed from a mixture of water and powdered castor beans.
The Tyrol-based brand's latest plant-based glasses collection, called Substance, is made from beans taken from castor trees. The range has been shortlisted in the product design category of Dezeen Awards 2020.
Rolf explained that as the peel of the bean is toxic, it removes this before grinding down the remaining contents into a powder. This is then 3D printed into frames for glasses, using mainly water as the binding material.
According to Rolf, the tall, fast-growing plants are grown in tropical climates without any genetic engineering, and they don't compete with food crops.
Rolf's Substance glasses are made using beans taken from castor trees "Where a spruce or a beech will only grow a few centimetres taller every year, this remarkable plant will shoot up six meters in just six months, and it comes back every year," explained company founder Roland Wolf.
"This makes the new material more sustainable and kinder to the environment than ever ? and the perfect foundation upon which to build a new collection of glasses called Substance and meet the current demand for more climate-considerate products."
The castor beans are ground into a powder that is then 3D printed
The Substance glasses utilise Rolf's Flexlock hinge design, which involves no screws or spare parts. This grants the eyewear more flexibility than is ...