Designer Zhekai Zhang has developed a method of staining porcelain with used coffee grounds to mimic the texture of marble, and applied the technique to a collection of lamps called Coffire.
The method, inspired by ancient Chinese pit-firing techniques, forms an "imperfect" random texture, meaning each Coffire pendant light is different.
The lamps are one of 261 design projects that have been longlisted for Dezeen Awards 2019.
Each lamp is fired to produce a unique marble-like effect
The Coffire project grew out of a commercial commission to promote a coffee drink, leading the Chinese designer to conduct research into ceramic firing techniques.
After learning how much coffee waste is generated each year, Zhang started to think about how the grounds could be reused. The lamps were inspired by Zhang's research into coffee waste
"At least 400 billion cups of coffee are consumed worldwide each year, producing at least eight million tons of coffee grounds," he said.
"Most coffee grounds are discarded, thrown in landfill or incinerated along with other waste. The disposal of coffee grounds as waste not only consumes a lot of energy, but also harms the environment."
The ceramic pendant lamps are fired for the first time in a gas kiln
Zhang, who graduated from the Royal College of Art last year, used a gas kiln instead of a traditional sand pit to allow the lamps to be mass-produced while avoiding the high waste rate involved in pit firing.
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