material recycling system ︎
casting and molding ︎

Ripple

A series of dinnerware and decorative bowl set created from post-consumer soda-lime glass waste. Through collection, sanitization, material breakdown, fusing and slumping, bottle glass waste is regenerated into new functional objects that can be recycled again just like a beer bottle at the end of its lifecycle.
















RAW MATERIAL PREPERATION

COLLECTION & SANITIZATION

Glass waste is collected from sources like resturant and bars who are not working with recyclers and discard their bottles with the landfill.
DIY STEEL GLASS CRUSHER



CRUSHING INTO SHARDS

SHIFT & SANITIZE







MOLD MAKING

3D MOCKUP & PROPOSAL
LASERCUT JIG
TURNING W/ JIG
CLAY POSITIVE



︎︎︎ Slip cast molds were made using the clay positive method above,  the slip cast molds were used to batch produce stoneware glass slump molds.  ︎︎︎


FUSING PLATE


TOP: SLIP CAST MOLD
BOTTOM: STONEWARE END PRODUCT



SLUMP MOLD 1

SLUMP MOLD 2

FUSING SHARDS

FUSED FLAT PLATE

GLASS SLUMP

END PRODUCT



THE CHALLENGE

Different types of glass fuses and slumps in different temperture and require a meticulous firing schedule with specification in tempeture, tempeture changing speed,  and hold time in relation to velocity of slumping. 

Having no available information on firing commercial recycled soda lime glass, I had to estimate based on relative information and reaching out to a dozen of experienced glass workers across the US. With extensive investigation and a little bit of luck, I was able to produce successful products within 2 experiments.