Custom Stroy
Related Articles
Pearson Lloyd, an east London-based design studio, recently partnered with Amsterdam and London-based start-up Batch.Works, which specializes in distributed and 3D printed manufacturing of consumer goods in from recycled materials, to create a collection of office accessories for Bene, the Austrian office brand. Bene gave the name bFRIENDS to the product line, which is now available for purchase. Batch.Works produced the bFRIENDS collection entirely from recycled food packaging made from polylactic acid (PLA).
Pearson Lloyd co-founder Tom Lloyd commented to Dezeen, the architecture and interior design magazine, “… in almost 20 years [3D printing has changed] from an exotic and expensive tool we used to replace hand-sculpted form models… to an affordable means of rapid prototyping with the studio. Julian Vaissieres, CEO and Founder of Batch.Works, told Dezeen: “We are really proud of the fact that the products manufactured at our new Amsterdam location are as close to net-zero as you can imagine.
The bFRIENDS range consists of 21 different products, available in 10 standard colors, although custom colors are also available on request. The products include pen holders, pen holders with individual slots for each pen, cell phone holders and fixed trays. Recalling the production process of the recycled chair we covered last month, made by The New Raw, the bFRIENDS collection is made with a method where the printer nozzle traces the shape of each product on a single continuous line. .
In a press release for Bene, Luke Pearson, co-founder of Pearson Lloyd, observed: “The use of post-consumer 3D printed bioplastics is fitting into the new production and consumption models that we all need to embrace. in our search for viable responses to the climate emergency. Bene CEO Michael Fried added, “The circular manufacturing model pioneered by companies such as Batch.Works offers real hope for the sustainable future of design and production – and this collection is the proof that it works.
Image courtesy of Dezeen.com
Fried addresses the most exciting aspect of bFRIENDS accessories with his mention of the planned circular economy involved. Bene will allow products to be returned once they have reached the end of their life cycle, or even to simply drop them off in a Bene showroom. After that, the discarded products will be returned to Batch.Works, to be recycled as the source material for further production runs. The bFRIENDS color palette is integrated into this concept: the solid color of each product will further facilitate the transformation of returned goods into a “new” raw material. The more the consumer side of 3D printing evolves, the more evident it becomes that the biggest benefit of the technology – for manufacturers, sellers, and buyers – will be in products embedded in circular economies.
