The vetiver root industry in Garut, West Java, always produces an abundant of waste, after the roots are pressed for oil. The pile of roots, if not burned immediately, would rot and cause unpleasant sights and smells. A research to make use of the material was conducted by pressing the material and forming it into desired shapes, in order to make functional products.
Vetiver root in Garut
Mendong material, a variety of grass that grows in abundant in Tasikmalaya, West Java, has been woven into mats for generations. However, its industry grew stagnant, due to the absence of product development and quality improvement. A team of design researchers from ITB took this matter into account and provided a number of the following solutions: training in dyeing techniques, colors and patterns improvements, as well as innovative applications of mendong mats into three-dimensional products. Moreover, the team also designed a manual weaving tool, as an improvement of the old variety, in order to improve production efficiency and capacity.
Mendong in Tasikmalaya
Coconut mid-ribs, or lidi in the local language, is a material that has been used widely in Indonesia, but mostly as brooms or placemats, with no further thoughts put into it. For her graduation project at Industrial Design ITB, Meirina took this presumably inferior material and conducted experiments to explore it further, resulted in a number of interior elements: lighting accessories, containers, tableware, etc.
Lidi by Meirina Triharini
For his graduation project at Industrial Design ITB, M. Fadli put his attention to the leather waste from footwear industries in Cibaduyut, with sizes that are too small to be produced into ‘by-products’ such as key chain hangers and wallets. He designed a system, cutting the small pieces with pound knives of particular shapes, then ‘weave’ the pieces to form a series of bags.
Rebirth by M. Fadli
Cibaduyut area in West Java is famous for its footwear industry. However, along with the production, comes also the mount of waste from the shops, whether leftover materials or rejected, deformed pieces. Among the wasted materials is rubber, of which Jeffry took as a case and processed it into stripes, to be woven into seats for his graduation project at Industrial Design ITB.
Rubber Seats by Jeffry Oktavus
For his graduation project at the Industrial Design section of ITB, Frans chose to explore the glass waste, caused by thrown empty bottles or broken glasses. After conducting a series of experiment, he came up with the final product: a lighting accessory.
Lamp"Oo" by Frans Atuh Sanger
Copy, bind and print shops/services around a university would release not only research papers and works of students, lecturers and researchers, but also the waste of the works, such as the excess of papers and plastics. Felicia Simon aimed to reduce the plastic waste (from book covers, binders, etc.) by processing and turning it into a series of room divider for her graduation project at Industrial Design ITB.
Sasanti by Felicia Simon
Aluminum drink cans are consumed daily in a great number, which add to the pile of garbage that are not properly treated, moreover recycled, in urban areas in Indonesia – while drinks in cans are still being widely produced and consumed. In her graduation project, Fammina attempted to reduce the waste problem by turning the cans into a stool, through the process of pressing and fixing them together. In this project, she also designed a simple, manual tool to process this material for small-scale industries.
CanStool by Fammina Rismaya
Tembesu wood is originated from Palembang, the capital city of South Sumatra province, and is popular as one of the main materials in timber industry. The waste of tembesu timber industry is in blocks of wood pieces, which are too small to be a construction element or any structural product, but are too big and valuable to let burn as garbage. Dian Suri saw the potential of this raw material and turned it into a series of jewelry and body accessories that carry the theme of Palembang ethnicity for her graduation project at Industrial Design ITB.
Can'an by Dian Suri
For his graduation project at the Industrial Design section of ITB, Apid Rustandi conducted a research on cassava skin, which are available in abundant as a waste of cassava chips industry. He turned the waste into a lighting accessory.
Cassava by Apid Rustandi