Furniture made from recycled fishnets brings awareness to kelp forests’ eradication

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When you’re eating a delicious piece of fish, do you ever think about how it got to your table? Not everyone of course thinks about these things but every once in a while, we should wonder how the fishing industry affects the whole underwater ecosystem. There’s such a thing as “ghost nets” or fishnets that are left in the Baltic Sea and nearby bodies of water and they cause a lot of fishes and other sea creatures to die needlessly for decades afterward.

What if these fishing nets can be re-used for something else instead of being left in the seas and oceans for years? The designers came up with the Kelp Collection which uses a material that combines recycled fishing nets with wood fiber to create 3D-printed designs. When they reach their “end of life cycle”, this material will remain within the same ecosystem and can eventually be turned into new bio-materials, therefore completing the circle of life.

Designer: Interesting Times Gang

The designers were commissioned for a new sushi restaurant concept called Black Milk Sushi, set to open this spring in Stockholm, Sweden. The two-star Michelin chefs who are running the restaurant wanted something extraordinary to adorn their interiors. What came out of this is a furniture series that will not only look beautiful but will bring awareness to the slowly eroding underwater kelp forests that are affected by unsustainable fishing practices. 3D printing technology also plays a huge part in being able to produce this kind of material and furniture.

The chairs that are part of the collection are green in color, the same as the kelp forests, and has organic-looking silhouettes and lines that bring to mind ocean vegetation. It doesn’t look to be the most comfortable-looking chairs but the fact that it will be placed in a restaurant may mean that it is actually pretty good to look at and sit in. The Kelp Furniture line would have been displayed at the Stockholm Furniture and Light Fairs exhibition but it was postponed.

It would be interesting to see the other furniture that they would come up with for this collection. When the restaurant opens, we’ll find out the longevity and sturdiness of such a material with this kind of design as well. But I would indeed like to sit on a chair made from fishing nets as I try to eat my sushi.