Rachel Chee

“Speckled Homewares” uses discarded eggshells as a sustainable waste material to create temporary homeware products. Eggshell waste is collected, dried and transformed into a powder, which is then blended with eco-binders, to create the eggshell material and its different products. When these eggshell products become obsolete, they can dissolve in water and return to the earth without harm. Speckled Homewares addresses a range of social and environmental issues including food waste, overconsumption and resource scarcity. It encourages consumers to be more aware about their consumption habits and sustainable choices.

Sustainability

The eggshell material offers a potential solution for creating more sustainable products, promoting a concept of temporary consumption to minimise waste and to leave a positive impact on the environment.

Second Life

By collecting discarded eggshells from homes, this material reuses eggshell waste, providing it with another meaningful stage in its life cycle before it is ultimately returned to the environment.

Natural Composition

These natural material samples are made with different ratios of eggshell waste, calcium carbonate, eco-binders such as xanthan gum and sodium alginate, and coffee ground waste.

Visual Aesthetics

The colour of the eggshell material can be altered through using non toxic food dye. The exploration of visual elements, including vibrant and pastel colours, will hopefully advance the development of the material and enhance its attraction to future consumers.

Temporary Forms

This project shows how the eggshell material can be moulded into temporary homewares such as the jewellery trinket bowl and lamp shade. These minimalistic designs were chosen to mimic forms in nature and help emphasise the material’s distinctive texture.

Circularity

A visual storyboard that demonstrates the material’s sustainable life cycle, from sourcing waste, to the making process, to product use and its end of life.

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