Gourd crafts can be fun, but the shapes are often impractical for daily usage. With The Gourd Project, Jun Aizaki of the CRÈME design house is trying to change that. To reduce waste from packaging, he's making completely biodegradable cups, jars, and vases from gourds.
From a farm in Pennsylvania, Aizaki is able to grow complete vessels in six weeks. He grows the gourds inside molds with optimal shapes.
Molding gourds is not new. What is new about Aizaki's project is his objective of making this process available for mass production. He writes:
We plan to initially invest money towards R+D, so we can grow the gourds in both indoor farming facilities and outdoor farms, allowing us to scale up the quantity and lower the price per gourd. The goal is to keep the high quality and quantity, so that The Gourd can be a viable challenger to the plastic waste industry.
-via Colossal