CoffeeLovers

Project Overview

Coffee Lovers explores the potential of spent espresso grounds as a sustainable design material. As someone who drinks multiple espressos every day, I was constantly aware of how much coffee waste was being thrown away despite its natural deodrizing properties and pleasant aroma - something I'd grown up seeing my mother use around house.

Through material experimentation, I developed a recipe that stabilizes and extends the life of dried coffee grounds, revealing a wide range of possibilities.

Tools

Sustainable Design
Rhino + KeyShot

Materials

Coffee Grounds
Secret Recipe!

Top view of three white bowls on a wooden tray containing ground coffee, powdered creamer, and milk.

White scalloped plate filled with dark brown coffee grounds on a woven mat surface.

Simple Shapes

I air-dried 3 days' worth of espresso grounds and, using a recipe I developed through my own material exploration, formed them into basic prototype in the shape of diffuser.

Small Oil Diffuser

The coffee grounds I used were relatively coarse, giving the prototypes a naturally rugged and textured surface. Once cured, the material became far more solid than I expected, and it absorbed added oils remarkably well—holding the scent with surprising depth and longevity.

Close-up of a mound of ground coffee on a decorative rectangular glass dish on a dark surface near a window.

Dark brown object resembling a dried seed or clump on a rectangular decorative dish with a vintage-style illustration of people on a ship deck and text 'American Line New York Southampton'.