Tables and stools made from Mycelium.
Wall light made from crushed glass.
Nina Woodcroft has created interiors for some of the world’s best-known hotels. But that’s the last thing that sets her apart as a name to know.
“Fifteen years into my design foray, I grew frustrated with the prevalent disregard for the wellbeing of people and the planet,” says the London-based designer, who founded Nina+Co in 2014 “to collaborate with other change-makers, like-minded clients, innovative designers and local craftspeople on carefully selected projects with a strong focus on sustainability”. Her secret sauce? Her choice of materials, which includes such curiosities as mushroom mycelium (gasp!), algae and bioplastics.
Zero-Waste Pop-up Restaurant in Estonia Featuring a 15-Ton Rammed-Earth Table.
A restaurant named Null, a dinner table for twelve and seven days. This was the brief Estonian design studio KUDAS were given when they were invited to participate in the local television show…
Pendant light made from seaweed.
The open kitchen is skirted by an eighteen-seater dining bar that is undoubtedly the restaurant’s centrepiece. Not only because it offers an intimate connection between the diners, the chef and the ingredients, but because it’s a shining example of beautiful recycling. You see, the front of the bar is entirely cloaked in recycled leather and the bartop is made up of repurposed polyester packaging waste. “The bartop, made by Smile Plastics, can be recycled many times over,” says Nina, whose furniture scheme also included circular, three-legged dining tables and a five-metre-long waiter station custom-made in sustainably sourced English ash wood by Jan Hendzel.
Trending Terrazzo by Bottle-Up Made from Recycled Glass Waste.
In collaboration with Dutch designers & local craftsman, Bottle-Up has launched a series of glass terrazzo objects made from recycled glass from Zanzibar…
Perhaps most curious of all is the cocktail lounge furniture, which Nina created out of magic mushrooms (yes, really). “The furniture was grown from mycelium, the main constituent of fungus,” she says. “As one of the most important organisms on our planet, it’s a super-sustainable construction material that is not only renewable and compostable, but also endlessly available.”
For guests here, there are several lightbulb moments (literally). Thirty bespoke wall lights, custom-designed for Silo by Nina+Co, pack a punch in both style and sustainability. “They were made by a local potter using crushed glass wine bottles from the restaurant. Through a unique, energy-reduced glass recycling process developed in-house by Douglas, the crushed glass is moulded and fired in a kiln to create stunning, textural objects. These can be crushed and recycled again and again,” shares Nina. With a focus on minimum waste and maximum taste, it’s clear that this restaurant is equal parts green, lean and mean.
[Images courtesy of Nina+Co. Photography by Sam Harris.]