Biodegradable cups created following ancient techniques

Designer Jun Aizaki, the head of the studio CRÈME, has developed the Gourd Project: coffee cups and a carafe that are all biodegradable and made entirely from gourds. The ultimate aim is for them to act as perfect substitutes for plastic and paper cups used for takeaway drinks. 

‘Takeaway cups and packaging are the norm in everyday life, but they produce an enormous amount of waste, which ends up in landfill and contaminates our precious waterways and landscapes’, explains Jun Aizaki on the Gourd Project‘s website. ‘What if nature, as well as being a material resource, could also provide a solution to this global problem?’

An ancient practice

The designer took inspiration from the practice of gourd moulding, which has existed for several centuries, particularly in Japan, when creating Gourd Project. The name is significant because the word ‘gourd’ has its roots in the Latin cucurbita, a plant from the cucurbitaceae family that has been used as a container since antiquity. The teams at CRÈME take a more modern approach and grow gourds in moulds made from recycled plastic, which take the shape of the object they aim to create. After six weeks of growing, all that’s left to do is dry the cucurbitaceae before washing and using it. 

‘Gourds are plants that grow quickly and that bear robust fruit every season. Once dried, the solid outer skin and the inner fibrous flesh become water-resistant. CRÈME has adapted this method to create its own compostable containers, using made-to-measure 3D-printed moulds’, explains the designer. 

For the time being, Gourd Project products are only sold and displayed in museums like MoMA. The teams at studio CRÈME imagine that they will initially be used in certain tea rooms, before the points of sale multiply and diversify.

Gourd Project (2019) is a CRÈME creation, details of which are available on the dedicated website.