OHMIE:
the world´s first 3D printed lamp of Italian origin made from orange peels is part of a new generation of eco-design products having circularity in mind that are ready to break into the market on a much larger scale
Nobody could deny today that Italy, along with other Scandinavian countries, is one of the cradles of design.
Italy, since the 1950s, has been recognized as a worldwide leader in the design area, standing for the “made in Italy” stamp on best quality products.
However, in the last decade for Italy and many other design leaders countries, it has been all about silently researching and innovating to meet the needs of a world in lack of sustainability.
Yet, it seems that today after years of merely innovating, we are reaching the point where a new generation of eco-design products is ready to break into the market to meet the needs of a more environmentally aware early majority.
As an example today, we could look at “Ohmie” -the first 3D printed lamp made from orange peels, developed by Krill Design- an Italian company specialized in transforming waste from the food supply chain through circular economy processes to create fully circular items.
“Ohmie” is a good example of a product that aligns with nature, preserving natural resources to truly turn them into real usable bioresources. Each “Ohmie” lamp is made with 2 peels of Sicilian oranges, helping save CO2 emissions, and avoiding the problem of bioresources disposal and food waste.
Following researched data, “every year 1.3 billion tons of natural materials are tossed away”. In this context, Krill Design’s vision is to take disposed resources before they reach the bin to turn them into worthy high-quality products.
Krill Design takes discarded peels, dry them, and grounded them into powder form to blend them with a natural biopolymer to use in a 3d printer.
The result of the process is an “Ohmie” lamp that preserves the texture of orange peels with a minimal aesthetic.
Currently, the “Ohmie” lamp awaits receiving financial support on Kickstarter to accomplish a first production cycle. Yet is a good example of the kinds of cradle-to-cradle designs (that align with nature and do not work against it) that we should expect to flood the market to meet the early majority after years of loose innovations… The market is ready, and Italy is ready to reclaim its title as: “renovated eco-designer” leader.
Learn more about OHMIE here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ohmie-krilldesign/ohmie-the-orange-lamp-worlds-first-lamp-from-orange-peels