Material Matter
Lotte Douwes
Lotte Douwes transforms ceramic waste into new high-quality tableware and interior products. Her mission is to make the entire production process of porcelain and pottery circular. Because while the plate in your cupboard and that cup on your desk may seem ordinary, they are made from precious pieces of earth.
In recent decades, due to the emerging consumer society, clay has become a standard material. To create consistency, contemporary industrial clay is composed of materials mined around the world. Once one mine is depleted, operations are relocated to a new site. From this clay, cheap products are made in China, creating a lot of waste in the process. These items are sold en masse in Western countries, where they are discarded in large quantities: thrift shops in the Netherlands alone throw away 11 million kilos of ceramic waste every year.
We spoke to Lotte about her research into the processing of ceramic waste, her passion to make people look at tableware with new eyes and her collaborations with factories to make their production circular.
Photography: Anouk Moerman
Hi Lotte, what drives you, what is your passion and where does it originate?
Working with tableware and ceramics is in my DNA, as my mother ran an exclusive tableware shop. Growing up we would travel all over Europe together in search of special pieces. Thanks to her, I learned which sizes are nice to eat and drink from and how a piece of tableware should feel. So, when I started studying at the Design Academy in Eindhoven, it was already clear to me that I wanted to work with ceramics. There, I also discovered that I prefer working with porcelain: it’s a great material because it’s thin and delicate, yet extremely strong.
After my studies, I decided to professionalise my ceramics studio and develop my own tableware line, only to discover that the ceramics industry is a very polluting one. So I decided to use my work to make a difference. Today, my designs are a way for me to create awareness about where things come from, how they are made and to show the wrongs behind them. I see my products as an opportunity to tell these stories, carrying meaning and value for both consumers and the industry.
Can you tell us more about this polluting ceramics industry?
During cheap mass production of ceramics, a huge amount of waste is produced, mainly because many ceramics are rejected during and after production. This can sometimes amount to as much as 50% of what is produced. Not to mention the huge CO2 emissions caused by the production process and the transportation to sell these products in the Western world at stores like IKEA and Hema.
Almost all the ceramics you can buy in the big shops are made within a system that depletes the earth. Subsequently, we dispose of the products, and there is no good way to reuse this ceramic waste, as there is no clear-cut method to collect it. The waste flow is complex and fragmented, making it difficult to recycle. So while many people do bring old crockery to a recycling centre, about 50,000 kilos per branch still ends up as waste every year. With 220 branches, that is a waste stream of 11 million kilos each year.
Although ceramic is a natural product, its waste takes a very long time to decompose.
You say the crockery we use every day is depleting the earth. How so?
Tableware, whether porcelain or pottery, is made from clay. Clay is fundamentally a product of nature. It consists of worn particles of rock, which are carried by rivers. In the Netherlands, too, clay is taken from the rivers to make bricks.
High-quality Dutch clay for making tableware no longer exists. It is replaced by a standardised industrial material prioritising efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Unlike a natural product - which is different every time - you know what to expect from a standardised recipe. That is important if you have set up a mass production line.
Manufacturers are therefore happy to return a bag of clay if the ingredients differ by one percent from what was agreed, otherwise they run the risk that their production will fail.
To make a homogeneous clay that is always the same, components are sourced and processed from mines all over the world. These include minerals such as kaolin, feldspar and quartz. These are becoming increasingly scarce and are mined in appalling conditions. After exhausting the resources in one location, mines relocate, only to deplete the earth again.
Although ceramic is a natural product, its waste takes a very long time to decompose. A shard of porcelain takes about 4,000 years, while pottery takes approximately 2,000. Most ceramic waste discarded by consumers is now simply incinerated.
So clay is getting scarcer, but there is a lot of ceramic waste. What is your solution?
I want to use ceramic waste to produce new tableware and interior products. That sounds logical and easy, but the reality is more complex. My journey began in 2017, when I was in Jingdezhen in China, the porcelain industry’s mecca. There, I encountered huge piles of discarded porcelain tableware. Inspired by this, I wanted to investigate whether I could use it to create high-quality material. The result was my first collection, ‘No Waste,’ made entirely from recycled ceramic waste.
Upon returning to the Netherlands, I decided to focus further on developing circular tableware. Here, too, there is a huge waste mountain of crockery, although this mainly concerns post-consumer waste streams. By this, I mean ceramic waste such as cups, saucers, plates and vases, which have been discarded and end up at, for example, thrift shops.
This is what I have been specialising in in recent years. With my current company, Meaningful Matter, I turn old tableware and waste from the production process into new high-quality tableware and interior products. At the same time, I help factories design their production lines in a circular way.
How do you and your tableware stand out from the current offerings?
With my products, I raise awareness around the highly polluting and wasteful clay industry. Every IKEA cup purchased supports this unsustainable story, which is no longer acceptable. Through my work, I offer both consumers and producers a sustainable alternative.
What’s unique about my work is that from the outside, you can't see that it is made from waste. The result is a beautiful and attractive product, inspired by Japanese and Danish design aesthetics, with equal quality to other tableware. I strive for unique designs that are cherished for a long time and are not easily discarded. My approach is also suited to move with the times. Old products can be reprocessed into clay, from which new products can be made.
How do you source the waste you use to make new ceramics? Do you work with the factories that produce so much waste?
Since last year, I have been working with several ceramic producers. We are setting up a circular chain with a focus on pottery and porcelain. I have researched extensively what one can do with waste and I have developed working recipes with a high percentage of discarded crockery.
Our chain project includes a collaboration with a recycling company. While the exact amount of ceramic waste in the Netherlands remains unknown, I can now make a tentative first assessment. Recycling companies receive discarded ceramics every day, sorting them into broken and intact items. Broken pieces go into the container, while usable pieces are sent to the shop. If this crockery isn’t sold after six weeks, it also goes into the container. I want to further develop and scale up this chain, to process it into new products together with producers. I am in the midst of this at the moment, and I am looking for the right partners to develop this further with.
Moreover, my clay is baked at a lower temperature, resulting in reduced CO2 emissions.
You are looking for partners to scale up the production process. What do you have to offer them?
What started with designing products has since expanded into designing a renewable material. Today, I develop clay and glaze recipes based on waste materials and design a fully circular production process.
What sets me apart is that, as a designer, I think about the whole chain. I not only create a circular product, but also develop the clay recipes. This allows me to collaborate closely with producers on the production process. Therein lies a second unique aspect: my material development has resulted in a clay recipe with an exceptionally short drying time.
Let me explain: traditionally pottery requires a certain amount of time in a mould to build up thickness. Once the right thickness is achieved, the excess clay is poured out, and the piece is left to dry. As the clay dries, it shrinks, loosening from the mould. A traditional pottery product typically needs to stand in the mould for an hour and a half. My clay, on the other hand, needs only a few minutes.
This faster drying and emptying of the moulds allows for increased turnover rates. Moreover, my clay is baked at a lower temperature, resulting in reduced CO2 emissions. For a factory, these improvements make a huge difference. I make it easier for them to choose a circular option, because this choice is also more efficient.
So not only do you develop tableware from waste, but also a more efficient production process. How do you envision the future?
My goal is to further develop this circular ceramics chain in the Netherlands. This is all about setting up smart collaborations and thinking in systems. How can we improve the processes of collection, sorting, grinding, storage and transport? In addition to recycling companies, I am considering cooperating with large traders in catering crockery, hotel chains and airlines. There are many residual flows to retrieve from these global players, and I want to give them a valuable destination.
Furthermore, I would like to collaborate with restaurants and hotels, for example, by collecting broken crockery to make new unique items for them. But this can also be done for individuals, for example by incorporating crockery from a deceased person into a new product that keeps the memories of that person alive.
Lastly, I notice that the future is also about the transformation of my role as a designer. I will always be a product designer with a love for making beautiful things. But I also see myself more and more as an intermediary who can help the industry make the transition to a circular ceramics industry. I prefer to combine the two and remain, on the one hand, the creative who can make something special on a small scale. And on the other, I am working to change the industry.
You want to set up a circular ceramics chain in the Netherlands. What are the biggest dilemmas for you at the moment?
What I find really complicated is coming up with a good business case, especially when it comes to developing clay recipes. Many questions arise: what do I sell, to whom and at what price? The material I use is waste, so that in itself is not expensive. However, processing, transporting and storing it is much more costly than with regular clay. I also have to calculate how much waste is needed and work out the whole circular collection system. Based on all this, it is necessary to set a price that is feasible for everyone. For comparison, a kilo of standard clay costs about 1.80 euros. That's so cheap, it's hard to compete with.
In the meantime, I have also had a son whom I am raising on my own, so at times it is quite tough to combine it all. As a result, things may be taking a bit longer, but thanks to some great collaborations, everything is gaining momentum now. And new partners are always welcome.
Finally, what do you want to convey to our readers? What is your main message?
With my work, I want to impart knowledge about how ceramics are made, where products come from, who makes them and whether those people are paid fairly. What I want to achieve is that people will never look at an ordinary cup in the same way again. And, to demonstrate that you don't have to use new material to make a good product, but that you can actually create more value with good design from waste.