The exhibition 'After the Last Sip', which will be presented at the London Design Festival in 2026, is dedicated to transforming discarded coffee grounds and tea leaves into interior design pieces created using 3D printing.
This project was developed by Taiwanese designers Chao-Chun Kun, Chin-Yoo Lin, and Chen-Yan Chan. The work was created at Fab.Pub in East London by mixing dried coffee grounds and tea waste with polylactic acid (PLA) to obtain a composite material suitable for 3D printing.
The designers conducted a series of iterative experiments, studying how particle size and material ratios affect color, texture, translucency, and structural properties. Parametric design and robotic manufacturing then transform these mixtures into complex, multi-layered forms.
Visible particles, uneven textures, and 3D printing layers make the waste itself an integral part of the aesthetic, organically showing the origin of these items. Each designer approached the material differently.
Kun's work, titled CHA, draws inspiration from the traditions of Taiwanese tea drinking, integrating the Chinese character for tea into his parametric design system. Lin's project, 'Indefinite Shore', uses coffee ground composites to convey the image of Taiwan's changing coastline through layers resembling sedimentary rock. Chan presented 'Nexus Bloom', exploring continuous, fluid geometries that suggest organic growth.
'After the Last Sip' questions the notion that consumption signifies the end of a material's useful life, thereby encouraging the practice of circular design for everyday life.