‘zhè’ by chen wei-che and chung yo-hsun
students chen wei-che and chung yo-hsun have designed ‘zhè’, a chair and desk set made out of bagasse, a fibrous sugarcane byproduct. for every 10 tonnes of sugarcane crushed during the production process, nearly 3 tonnes of wet bagasses remains as residue. in taiwan, where the sugar industry is largely present in the local economy, bagasse is usually thrown out as trash or burned. ‘zhè’ makes use of this otherwise wasted resource, turning it into a surprisingly sturdy material that is still soft in texture.
using a blender, the bagasse is finely chopped and dried. paper pulp and resin is added to the mix, resulting in a papier-mâché-like paste. using a wooden mold as the initial shaping structure, the mixture is layered on with drying periods in between until it is a solid shell of the form.
‘zhè’ chair
detail
(top) wooden mold (bottom) finished desk and lamp
process shot
finely chopped sugarcane bagasse
sugarcanes in taiwan
