Mexican designer Fernando Laposse has developed Totomoxtle, a marquetry material made from the colourful husks of heirloom corn species that restore vital biodiversity.
Laposse has developed a technique for turning the waste from preparation of the corn as a food stuff into an attractive and versatile veneer, in an example of the circular economy.
The material is currently on display at the V&A museum in London as part of its latest exhibition Food: Bigger than the Plate, which looks at the future of food from compost to plate.

To make the material, corn husks are peeled from the cob, ironed flat and glued onto a backing textile. This is then laser cut into interlocking pieces to be assembled as marquetry.
Totomoxtle veneer can be used for decorative wall covering as well as on furniture and design objects such as tables, lamps, and vases.
As well as using a renewable, natural material, Totomoxtle has the added benefit of re-popularising an endangered species of maize.
The material's production is also providing employment for Mexico's vulnerable indigenous Mixte people, who are growing the corn used for the veneer in the village of Tonahuixtla, in the south western state of Puebla in Mexico.

"It's a collaboration between me as a designer, a community of indigenous farmers, and a seed bank that holds the largest collection of corn seeds in the world," Laposse told Dezeen.
"They're providing us seeds from their vaults from 50 years ago that have been al...