Omani design collective Nawa has created a plastic-free filament for 3D printing using waste date seeds, which is on display at Dutch Design Week.
Called RePit as a play on the word "repeat", the composite material was designed to offer a more sustainable alternative to the thermoplastic filaments traditionally used by 3D printers to build up objects layer by layer.
Nawa has created a 3D printing filament from date pits
To make the material, the Nawa team sourced date pits from palm trees at their shared farm in Oman, where the fruit grows in abundance.
"Usually, the seeds are just left lying about but we wanted to create another life for them," Nawa architectural engineer Umayma Al Hinai told Dezeen.
The collective is presenting decorative 3D-printed tiles at Dutch Design Week The date seeds are crushed and mixed with natural Omani clay and palm fibres to make an iteration of a traditional water-resistant lime mortar known as sarooj, Al Hinai explained.
"Sarooj is something we use back home, usually for building houses," said the engineer. "The material has zero plastic in it and is made from only natural materials."
For its presentation at Dutch Design Week, the team is showing 15 different 3D-printed tiles with decorative undulating patterns informed by the shape of sand dunes. The tiles were fired and glazed in "the same way you would finish any ceramic", said Al Hinai.

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