BE OPEN BLOG

Coffee is one of the world’s most consumed commodities, but behind every cup lies an enormous amount of waste. Grounds, cups, bags and fibres are often discarded after a single use, creating an environmental footprint that rarely enters the design conversation. Today, however, designers and brands are beginning to see coffee byproducts not as refuse, but as raw material rich with narrative, texture and potential. From fashion and accessories to interiors and furniture, these projects show how innovation can emerge when sustainability is treated as a creative driver rather than a constraint.

At first glance, nat-2™’s latest sneakers look like refined luxury footwear, but their most distinctive feature is invisible until you get close. The German high-end sneaker brand has developed a patented upper material made partly from recycled coffee grounds, giving the shoes a subtle, natural coffee scent. The result is a product that engages not only sight and touch, but also smell, creating a quietly playful sensory experience.

Developed by founder Sebastian Thies in Germany, the unisex sneakers are 100 percent vegan and available in both high-top and low-top styles. Depending on the model, up to 50 percent of the upper material consists of recycled coffee grounds, resulting in a smooth, fine texture that challenges assumptions about what waste-based materials can feel like. The coffee used varies based on sustainable availability, reinforcing the project’s adaptive and responsible approach.

The rest of the shoe reflects the same attention to material integrity. Outsoles are made from real rubber, insoles from soft, anti-bacterial cork, and the components that resemble suede or nappa leather are produced from recycled PET bottles. Reflective glass details and water-based glue complete the construction, while all sneakers are handmade in Italy under fair conditions at a family-run, high-tech facility.

While nat-2™ invites wearers to walk on coffee, Berlin-based Lilienthal Berlin encourages them to wear it on their wrist. The brand’s Coffee Watch features a case made from recycled coffee grounds and, true to its origin, emits a subtle coffee aroma when worn, offering a sensory connection to its origin.

The case material was developed in collaboration with Kaffeeform, a company that collects used coffee grounds by bicycle couriers from cafés across Berlin. These grounds are dried in community workshops before being processed into a traceable, eco-friendly material. Inside, the watch houses a stainless-steel core, paired with a natural leather strap that reinforces its premium positioning.

The design draws inspiration from minimalist Bauhaus aesthetics, with a sunburst dial and smooth, tactile feel, reflecting the brand’s commitment to both functionality and visual elegance. Available in several colours that mirror the rich tones of coffee, such as Macchiato and Espresso, the watch captures the essence of coffee culture while promoting sustainable production practices.

Moving from personal accessories to architectural scale, London-based Blast Studio tackles one of the most visible symbols of urban waste: the takeaway coffee cup. Their biomaterial, Cupsan, is made from discarded single-use coffee cups and produced in high-density boards that can be used much like MDF. The material, which has a warm, flecked appearance similar to terrazzo, is produced by shredding and sterilizing the paper cups, removing their plastic linings, and creating a strong, durable substrate suitable for use in furniture and interior design, bridging the gap between industrial performance and tactile appeal.

Blast Studio initially developed the material as a substrate for mycelium experiments after relocating from Paris to London in 2019. Surrounded by the city’s takeaway coffee culture, the designers quickly realised how problematic these plastic-lined cups are to recycle. Over time, they discovered that their paper-pulp substrate was strong enough on its own, allowing them to reduce energy use and scale production more efficiently.

The turning point came when waste-management company First Mile delivered a full tonne of used coffee cups to the studio. Faced with the sheer volume of waste, the designers decided to step out of the lab and confront the realities of construction and waste industries head-on. Today, each square metre of Cupsan contains around 840 coffee cups.

Cupsan can be cut, drilled, sanded and repaired like wood, extending its lifespan and adaptability. Pigments from natural sources and even other waste streams, such as brick dust, add further material richness. By slowing down a fast, disposable object and turning it into something built to last decades, Blast Studio offers a compelling vision for circular design at scale.

If Cupsan addresses urban waste, Design Academy Eindhoven graduate Rosana Escobar turns her attention to a material deeply embedded in coffee’s global supply chain. Fique, an agave plant fibre grown in Colombia, is primarily used to make coffee bags for export. Escobar’s project, Unravelling the Coffee Bag, explores how waste fibres from this process could be repurposed for furniture and textiles.

By examining each stage of fique production, Escobar identified multiple points where material is discarded. During harvesting, the combing process creates a soft, fluffy byproduct that she transformed into felt for rugs. She also observed that coffee bags are often disposed of after use, despite the durability of their woven fibres. By unravelling them, she created hair-like yarns suitable for furniture making.

The resulting collection includes a bench, stool and felt rug, all developed in collaboration with local fique producers and rooted in existing craft techniques. Rather than introducing new demands on an already strained farming system, Escobar’s work fits seamlessly into the material’s current lifecycle. By giving new value and narratives to fique, Escobar highlights the importance of local production and highlights the untapped potential of natural fibres.