In this project our team’s mission was to locate a pervasive local waste stream to upcycle into a useable material for small scale product manufacturing. The chosen waste stream are used cigarette buds.
Project for "Design Studio: design in industry" at RMIT University in Australia. This was a group project (3 people), where my main role was to take care of the technical aspects (eg. how to clean, what kind of methods exist for manufacturing,...). As I understood the process and how the material behaved after cleaning, it was my idea to use it as an inkholder/pen.
Project for "Design Studio: design in industry" at RMIT University in Australia. This was a group project (3 people), where my main role was to take care of the technical aspects (eg. how to clean, what kind of methods exist for manufacturing,...). As I understood the process and how the material behaved after cleaning, it was my idea to use it as an inkholder/pen.

Exploring different cleaning possibilities

Experimenting and hands-on approach

Used filters (left), cleaned filters after process (right)
Using a hydraulic press to experiment with cleaned material
Use of hydraulic press
Material next to mould after applying pressure

Each time adding more pressure
Cleaned and pressed material behaves as vilt in a marker
Final choices manufacturing marker:


A sketch pen with a filter made of the materials extracted from cigarettes (Cellulose Acetate), creating a similar physical properties to that of the filter itself. This filter acted as the ink holder of the pen. Although we experimented with turning both the filter and the paper of the cigarette into the body itself, for aesthetic and functional purposes, we ended up creating the body of the prototype out of resin.

Final experimental prototypes made out of different techniques