Researching ways of reclaiming waste from the glass industry by bringing it up the value chain and into the field of architecture and the production of finished objects.
PROJECT PRESENTATION
“Though highly recyclable, glass currently generates a waste product called glass fines. These are small glass particles that are considered too small to be recycled conventionally. Their composition, which is incompatible with the quality standards of the industry, confines the material to uses of lesser value—for instance, as backfill.
Directly recovered from companies in the Parisian recycling sector, this high-supply material forms the source of the materials on which this research project is based. Unlike existing projects dealing with glass recycling, ‘Terre de Verre’ requires no additional resin or binding agent, nor any further grinding and directly employs a recovered material considered a waste product unsuitable for ‘traditional’ recycling.
Leveraging know-how from the glassmaking and ceramics industries such as fusing and glazing, glass fines are used to yield products that are both light and resistant, yet have a low environmental footprint. The molten masses of glass fines are shaped into a variety of items using casting techniques, with applications both in the public and private sphere, whether as decorative items or objects for everyday use. The end product is lightweight and translucent and it is therefore possible to imagine coating applications. Worked into thin sheets similar to glazing, applications derived from the world of ceramics might also be considered.”
“Though highly recyclable, glass currently generates a waste product called glass fines. These are small glass particles that are considered too small to be recycled conventionally. Their composition, which is incompatible with the quality standards of the industry, confines the material to uses of lesser value—for instance, as backfill.
Directly recovered from companies in the Parisian recycling sector, this high-supply material forms the source of the materials on which this research project is based. Unlike existing projects dealing with glass recycling, ‘Terre de Verre’ requires no additional resin or binding agent, nor any further grinding and directly employs a recovered material considered a waste product unsuitable for ‘traditional’ recycling.
Leveraging know-how from the glassmaking and ceramics industries such as fusing and glazing, glass fines are used to yield products that are both light and resistant, yet have a low environmental footprint. The molten masses of glass fines are shaped into a variety of items using casting techniques, with applications both in the public and private sphere, whether as decorative items or objects for everyday use. The end product is lightweight and translucent and it is therefore possible to imagine coating applications. Worked into thin sheets similar to glazing, applications derived from the world of ceramics might also be considered.”
TEAM PROJECT
Wilfried Becret
Wilfried Becret is a student at ENSAD in Paris in the Object Design master's program. He first trained as a prototypist, during which he was able to meet and work with many craftsmen. The experience he has accumulated over the years has allowed him to glimpse the possibilities that collaborations between design and craftsmanship could bring, which today guides his approach to creation and research.
Passionate about know-how and its history, his practice oscillates between research of tools and processes of shaping in order to work towards a questioning of our habits of life and consumption.
Wilfried Becret
Wilfried Becret is a student at ENSAD in Paris in the Object Design master's program. He first trained as a prototypist, during which he was able to meet and work with many craftsmen. The experience he has accumulated over the years has allowed him to glimpse the possibilities that collaborations between design and craftsmanship could bring, which today guides his approach to creation and research.
Passionate about know-how and its history, his practice oscillates between research of tools and processes of shaping in order to work towards a questioning of our habits of life and consumption.
