KaCaMa Design Lab is a Hong Kong-based product design firm which specialises in reusing post-consumer waste materials. With their products they not only plan on enriching people’s lives but also hope to instill an eco-awareness in them. KaCaMa has a strong connect with neighbouring enterprises, handicraft experts and local cultures.
Living Pixels
Taking used advertising banners as the starting point, the designers give a unique three-dimensionality to the material by cutting it into small pieces and then combining them to create interesting lighting objects. Each lamp shade is individually and specifically designed for each stand.
By sorting out matching colours and sewing each patch by hand the perfect irregular shape is arrived at. As the banner material is printed on just one side, the lamps appear to be white and pale when switched off; but once the lamps are lit, the plain appearance changes radically as the vibrant colours emerge.
Eggy Candle
Eggshells are items that are normally discarded in abundant quantities as a part of our daily lives. Countless eggshells are also discarded by the food industry. KaCaMa has seized this opportunity to use discarded eggshells to create simple and fun candles.
Eggy Candle as they call them can light up people’s lives and also spread a feeling of eco awareness. Eggshells are first collected and then cleaned thoroughly. A hole is then made and molten wax is poured in; Eggy Candle is ready for use once the wax cools down. Its special shape allows it to even float on water.
PP Capsule
Bottle caps are normally removed and discarded prior to the recycling of plastic or glass bottles. Discarded plastic caps are used by KaCaMa and are reborn as flexible bean bags suited for living rooms. With the help of expert craftsmen supported by local seamstresses, one bean bag or PP Capsule up-cycles 4,000 plastic caps.
The caps are encapsulated in eco-friendly fabrics and converted into versatile and eye-catching pieces of furniture. The fabric of the bean bags is created from post-consumer PET bottles and post industrial waste as this requires less energy to produce than using virgin polyester. Recycled polyester is the most sustainable fibre that exists in the outerwear industry today.
Stool Zero
This handy stool is inspired by the concept of zero waste. Every year thousands of broken household appliances are just thrown away and replaced, causing an alarming amount of waste that often does not get a chance to be recycled.
For example, we have seen loose wires at scrap metal shops, which have been stripped of their copper wires, leaving the plastic outer shells as waste. In order to find a solution to this problem, we looked at the concept of zero waste, and designed a series of seating stool crowns from the plastic outer shells of wires.
Old fan covers are collected from recycling centres and used as tops for the Zero Stools. These are then covered with hand woven pieces of plastic wires in order to provide comfort and stability. Different patterns provide each stool a one-of-a-kind quality. The stool legs are made out of salvaged wood obtained from abandoned freight crates.
In addition to promoting the idea of recycling, KaCaMa also believes in creating an awareness for the preservation of old crafts. In this day and age of factory made products creativity has gone overlooked. The company with its eco sensitive range of products hopes to hit home a message.
Text Compiled By Mala Bajaj
Contact
web: www.kacama.hk
