Core77

Great Industrial Design Student Work: Jade Echard Transforms Oyster Shells Into Durable Material

The Ostra project considers the environment, the supply chain and the economy

By Rain Noe - May 19, 2021

in Materials

Before we understood or cared about environmental damage, industrial design could be called a noble profession. At its best it produced useful objects for the masses, and using mass production made those objects affordable while creating thousands of factory jobs.

With that system no longer sustainable, Paris-based industrial designer Jade Echard is providing the model for an alternative. Ostra, the project Echard developed last year while gaining her Masters in Industrial Design at Central St. Martins, is a holistic approach to product development that tackles environmental issues while also considering the supply chain and local economies.

"Around 430 billion tons of oysters are harvested each year," Echard writes. "Their shells represent more than 70% of their weight, resulting in tons of shell waste. Most of it is untreated or dumped in landfill where it rots, releasing methane (a greenhouse gas). At the same time, they contain one of the most valuable components used in many industries but usually mined: Calcium Carbonate.

"By exploring the potential for transformation of this organic waste - thanks to an ancient Roman recipe for Concrete - OSTRA aims to rethink oyster shells as a valuable, sustainable and local resource of biomaterial by developing a range of products in the context of a circular economy. In doing so, the project helps to reduce the pollution load to the environment while also reducing production and transport costs and displacing harmful or extracted materials.

"OSTRA is an alternative material and a system for critically engaging with a complete supply chain. The project involves local communities, creating a network of people (farmers, restauranteurs as material suppliers, scientists, designers, and so on) around waste oyster shells.

"I am currently developing the material in collaboration with Dr Michael Cattell, a specialist in dental technology and biomaterials at the Institute of Dentistry - Queen Mary University of London. From this research, I have developed a tableware range made from oyster shell material which can be used by the same restaurants from which the shells were originally sourced."

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Echard now has her Masters in hand and has returned to her homebase of Paris, where she's seeking an ID gig. Would-be employers can contact her here.

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Alex Netz

2 years ago

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Hemp, coffee grinds, corn husk, chicken feathers... every month an ID student uses some organic waste filler in a plastic molded utensil and pretends they invented a new material

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- Jade Echard
  
  Alex Netz
  
  4 months ago
  
  Z
  
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  Hi Alex,
  Thank you for your comment on my project.
  Indeed, because of the terrible state of the climate and planet, a lot of people are trying to find solutions and alternative to pollution plastic instead of stand still, and I think that's great.
  My challenge in creating this new material is that there is absolutly no plastic in it, it's a natural chemical reaction in my recipe that makes the material bond together.
  
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Zach W

2 years ago

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Also I'd like to see where they got "430 billion tons of oysters are harvested each year" figure.....

The FAO website says annual production of oysters is about 5 million tons... that's a pretty big difference from 430 billion.
http://www.fao.org/in-action/globefish/market-reports/resource-detail/en/c/522564/

Core77, do you research the projects you post or just let the public do the math and ask for proof?

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- Jade Echard
  
  Zach W
  
  4 months ago
  
  Z
  
  Z
  
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  Hi Zach,
  Thank you for your comment on my project.
  All my datas are taken from verified scientific papers, on books, papers, Research Gate or others similar scientific platform :)
  
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- Nathan D.
  
  Zach W
  
  2 years ago
  
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  That document is describing the amounts which enter into international trade which presumably excludes amounts which do not. That said, Core77 does not subscribe to the notion that its editors should do anything beyond posting random, amusing links.
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  - Zach W
    
    Nathan D.
    
    2 years ago
    
    Z
    
    1Z
    
    - I would truly hope that Core77 looks into the projects they support and doesn't just post anything they find on the internet...
    -Regarding the weight, I highly doubt there is a 429 billion ton difference in the amount that "enters international trade" and what is harvested....
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Zach W

2 years ago

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There's no mention of cost anywhere in the project....
-In the video "Jade" says the best mix is 4 parts sand, 1 part shell mixture so that means these items are only 1/5 shell-based material. The end results also appear to be incredibly porous in the video and would be terrible to eat or drink from or clean....
-I would also guess that "burning the shells for 2 hours" probably created more C02 than you took out by using shells as concrete filler.
-I know the prototypes are rudimentary but I'm pretty sure you'll have to seal it with something before you eat cereal out of it...

This project looks to be more like: "we added some oyster shell chemical dust with concrete and made stuff".

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- Jade Echard
  
  Zach W
  
  4 months ago
  
  Z
  
  Z
  
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  Hi Zach,
  
  Thank you again for your comment on my project.
  
  This video was record during the 2020 lockdown, and I wanted to continue to do my material research to prove I can also do it with what I had at hand locally. For that, I had to change the proportions, use unconventional tools, find my raw material for the recipe around me (so no cost included because all I did is take wasted oyster shells that were given to me by the restaurant). I had no furnace, no proper equipment, no laboratory, and I manage to make that material, even if it's a little bit porous indeed.
  
  Making a new material takes time, the goal wasn't to be ableto eat cereal out of it immediatly (i wish but it's not that easy, otherwise you would do it too I guess). I'm still working on the material research part to be able to use and sell my product but I can say I manage to completly reduce the porosity by having the good machines in a proper laboratory, by having more accurate measuring tools that alllows me to have more quantity of oyster shells and find the right balance in my recipe, having the right equipment. No need to burn the shells for 2 hours, also no need to seal it with something or use concret to fill it, it's a natural chemical reaction that make the oyster shell bond together.
  
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