When it comes to room dividers, we usually think of bamboo screens, cloth curtains, shell curtains, accordion or folding portable doors, etc. Most of the time they’re just solid and not that imaginative. But what if you could make these dividers more decorative and artistic? Even better, what if the dividers are made from eco-friendly materials? That’s the idea behind this unique, sustainable, well-designed, and apparently aromatic room divider.
Designer: Crafting Plastics and Office MMK
BreaZea is a modular 3D printed room divider made from bioplastics which in turn are from a combination of cornstarch and sugar. Its shape is an organic design inspired by things like corals and leaves. There are two different designs that can be combined according to the user’s preferences. You get a curtain-like divider that looks more like a piece of artwork than just simple furniture.
But what makes it truly unique is that they wanted it to “smell”. Normally, bioplastics are odorless but they wanted people to associate it with a certain, pleasant smell just like what do with fresh wood. They worked with a scientist to come up with a smell that’s close to the materials that the bioplastics are made from, which is a sugary and caramel-y aroma.
They are experimenting with oil-based and water-based scents that they can add to the bioplastic before it is 3D printed or add it to the finished product. Even that smell is also something connected to the organic design as it doesn’t have a “regular shape” but comes “from very tiny places and spreads around.”
And since this is a sustainable product after all, the BreaZea can be placed in an industrial compost when it reaches the end of its lifecycle. It will become biodegradable in 60-120 days just like most things made from bioplastics.
