Student creates stool from coffee grounds

Student Wilson Lim combined his love for coffee and passion for product design to come up with something unique - a seat made out of coffee grounds.

Last June, the 27-year-old came up with the idea when he saw the barista at a cafe throwing coffee pucks, made up of coffee grounds, into a bin.

"The coffee pucks sparked an idea to create a harder and more durable material out of the grounds," said the final-year product design student at Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

He said that based on his research, coffee is the second most consumed beverage in the world - meaning there would be a lot of coffee grounds around.

"So I'm trying to think of ways to (turn) them into a meaningful product, giving recycled material a second life in creating a sustainable innovation," Mr Lim explained.

The round stool, named Ecoffee, was made out of 7kg of coffee grounds.

Mr Lim’s stool will be exhibited at the NTU Art, Design and Media faculty’s graduation show from tomorrow till May 15, 10am to 7pm.

Mr Lim collected the coffee grounds from his friend, Mr Mohamad Azahar Mohamad, 25, a barista at JAB Coffee in Raffles Place.

When Mr Lim approached him with his proposal, Mr Azahar said he had his doubts: "It was coffee grounds, not like cardboard which already has a structure."

Mr Lim was not surprised by his friend's inital doubts.

RESEARCH

"I had the same thoughts too at first. But with more research, I found a way to harden them," Mr Lim said.

"Testing of material, and thinking of what material could be best mixed with coffee grounds were part of the challenge too."

The stool, which can take a load up to 100kg, was made using compression molding. It was taken out after being cured for a week.

Mr Lim's lecturer, Mr Jeffrey Hong, said: "When he first pitched his project to me, I thought that it would have a wide impact, as coffee consumptions is very high worldwide.

"It's a good starting point for people to learn about upcycling. The school has organised an industry night to get companies to look at our students' projects, with the possibility of commercialising some of their projects.

"I'm hopeful that a company will pick it up."