/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63373032/sunflower3.0.jpg)
Biomaterials aren’t always the most beautiful to work with (case in point, anything made with mycelium), but Eindhoven-based designer Thomas Vailly has figured out a way to turn sunflower crop byproduct into a gorgeous marble-like material that can be used to craft panels, home objects, and packaging.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/16015527/sunflower4.jpg)
Working with scientists from École Nationale Supérieure des Ingénieurs en Arts Chimiques et Technologiques, Vailly used the leftover parts of a sunflower harvest—things like stalks and the substance left behind after pressing the seeds for oil—to make glues, foam, and varnish.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/16015529/sunflower2.jpg)
The stalks, for instance, are separated into bark and marrow. The bark is then heated and pressed into hardboard; meanwhile, the marrow is combined with a water-based glue to create a foam-like material.
“The sunflower crop offers a unique range of bio-based and biodegradable material,” Vailly tells Dezeen. “What is important to keep in mind is that these bio-based materials are different from what the industry and consumers are used to. Bio-based materials are not to be seen as a replacement for their synthetic counterparts, they have different qualities that can be exploited.”
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/16015531/sunflower1.jpg)
The exciting quality of this particular material is that it’s unusually beautiful. The hardboard and foam have a green and white pattern that almost looks like little stones that have been arranged into a rippled green slab of terrazzo.