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Coffire | Pendants by Zhekai Zhang. Item made of marble with glass
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Coffire | Pendants by Zhekai Zhang. Item made of marble with glass
Coffire | Pendants by Zhekai Zhang. Item made of marble with glass
Coffire | Pendants by Zhekai Zhang. Item made of marble with glass
Coffire | Pendants by Zhekai Zhang. Item made of marble with glass
Coffire | Pendants by Zhekai Zhang. Item made of marble with glass
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Coffire | Pendants by Zhekai Zhang. Item made of marble with glass

Created and Sold by Zhekai Zhang

Zhekai Zhang

Coffire - Pendants

$ On Inquiry

How waste can be turned into something useful and beautiful. The COFFIRE project might offer an answer.
The COFFIRE porcelain pendant light through the innovation of surface finishing technique by using used coffee grounds as sustainable coloring material to form mimic textures of marble under the mass production scenario.
The eco-conscious method of staining is inspired by the ancient pit firing technique for pottery making. During the low temperature (700-1000℃) firing process, the interaction between the biodiesel and the sugar in the coffee grounds, which oxidized to red matter, leave on the surface of the ceramics to form random texture, because the surface texture is influenced by many variables, such as temperature, humidity, coffee grounds density, etc.
The aim of the COFFIRE project is to develop the ‘imperfect’ design language from the perspective of the relationship between industrial standardized production and the craftsmanship.
This is a completely new and sustainable staining technique for porcelain product. Compared with the traditional pit firing, which tends to use toxic metals as coloring materials, the coffee grounds coloring ensures the safety of the product. In addition, this project replaces the traditional sandpit by gas kiln to achieve mass production, solving the problem of high waste rate of traditional pit firing. Also, the translucency of porcelain can add a form of presentation to the texture effect of the surface.

Item Coffire
Created by Zhekai Zhang
As seen in Private Residence, Shanghai, China
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Zhekai Zhang
Meet the Creator
Wescover creator since 2019
ZHEKAI.ZHANG is a young design studio dedicated to bringing new insights into home products with innovative processes and sustainable materials. The studio’s philosophy is to develop unique design languages from the perspective of the relationship between fundamental industrial production and craftsmanship.