From wine bottles to kettles, put a cork in it

July 20th, 2012

Appliance News Small Appliances

All this talk about today’s throwaway culture has inspired a French art student to design small appliances fashioned from cork.

Gaspard Tine-Beres, a student at the Royal College of Art in London, is looking into a business model where a range of small appliances can be made from cork, recycled borosilicate glass and recycled electrical components.

For the some of the same reasons cork has been used for centuries as a lid on wine, the bark is suitable for kettles, coffee makers or toasters: it is an insulator, waterproof and anti-bacterial.

The Frenchman has titled his fashionable, functional range of small appliances, Short-Circuit.

“Cheap household appliances such as kettles, coffee makers or toasters, are typical of goods that are thrown away while in perfect working order,” says Tine-Bires.

“But, even when damaged, the electrical components unlike the casing are easily fixable; therefore, landfill sites are increasingly becoming sources of viable and perfectly working complex electrical and electronic components. Moreover, these same components represent a major waste problem, due to their composite and toxic nature.”

Images from Tine-Bires’ website: