Cupsan: Blast Studio’s Biomaterial from Discarded Coffee Cups
Cupsan is a groundbreaking biomaterial developed by Blast Studio in London. It is made entirely from discarded coffee cups collected across the city. The innovation lies in using what most people see as trash to create strong, beautiful, and sustainable surfaces. It is designed for furniture, wall panels, lighting, and custom interior elements.
The process begins with collecting used coffee cups, shredding them, removing plastic linings, and sterilizing. These steps create paper pulp which is then mixed with a plastic-free binder. The result is a material that can be worked like wood or shaped like stone. Each square meter of Cupsan recycles around 840 coffee cups. It offers finishes from natural stone-look to terrazzo-like textures. Blast Studio presents Cupsan as durable, fire resistant, and fully recyclable, aiming to transform urban waste into materials that feel honest, useful, and beautiful.
Design, Application & Material Properties
Cupsan’s design logic focuses on circularity, local resources, and flexibility. It embraces waste not as a problem but as raw material. The material is produced in London, and uses locally collected coffee cups, minimizing transport and carbon emissions. It can be cut, sanded, shaped, dyed in the mass with pigments, and finished in various textures. Designers can mould it into boards, furniture, decorative panels, bespoke objects, or sculptural surfaces. The material is compatible with different finishes: raw and stone-like, smooth sanded, terrazzo cures, or bespoke 3D patterns.
Because it is plastic-free, and uses a binder instead of resin, Cupsan reduces dependence on synthetic materials. It also resists fire to certain tolerances and behaves in ways similar to wood in terms of workability. Its versatility makes it suitable for interiors where durability, aesthetics, and sustainability matter equally.
Program and Uses
| Application Type | Example Uses | Finishes / Customization Options |
|---|---|---|
| Wall panels | Feature walls, acoustic panels, decorative surfaces | Stone-like texture; terrazzo finish; coloured panels; 3D moulding |
| Furniture and Objects | Tables, desks, lamps, counters | Custom dimensions; dyed colours; mixed finishes; moulded shapes |
| Interior Surfaces | Panels, cladding, partitions | Sanded or raw finish; pigment inclusion; bespoke patterns |
Materiality and Construction Techniques
Cupsan begins with the pulp from used cups; plastic linings are removed during processing. A natural binder binds the pulp into a board. The boards are pressed and formed under heat and pressure. They can be machined, cut, sanded. Custom shapes are possible. Colours are introduced by mixing pigment into the mass. Finishes vary: raw, sanded, polished, terrazzo style, or 3D patterned. Structural properties are comparable to wood panels, enabling furniture or wall work. The material is fully recyclable, meaning at end of life it can be re-processed or reused.
Architectural Analysis
The design logic behind Cupsan combines circular economy principles with aesthetic clarity. Rather than hiding waste, it lays it bare, letting texture, colour, and form express its origin. Its honesty in materials creates emotional resonance: surfaces that feel tactile, real, imperfect. At the same time, its workability ensures architectural utility. It can serve functional surfaces without sacrificing aesthetic or environmental values.
Contextually, Cupsan addresses waste challenges in urban interiors. Many interiors rely heavily on synthetic, high-carbon materials. Cupsan provides an alternative, reducing reliance on plastic or resin surfaces. It fits well in applications seeking both performance (durability, fire resistance) and ecological impact. Critically, choices in finish, texture, and form allow designers to use it not only practically but expressively.
Project Importance
Cupsan teaches architects and designers that waste can be recast as resource. It shows how urban discard can feed innovation rather than landfill. Its typological contribution is in the board-material category: offering an eco-friendly alternative to MDF, resin, or synthetic composite panels. For interior architecture, that matters now as clients demand sustainability along with visual quality.
In a time of climate urgency, material choices carry weight. Cupsan’s ability to be plastic-free, recyclable, locally produced, and aesthetically flexible gives it relevance. It stands as a model: architecture and interior design not just shaped by form but by supply chains, waste lines, and environmental responsibility. It signals that future interior typologies will need to integrate biomaterials in order to match ecological goals.
✦ ArchUp Editorial Insight
Cupsan by Blast Studio transforms discarded coffee cups into a biomaterial suitable for interiors. The process involves shredding cups, removing plastic linings, and combining the pulp with a natural binder. The material can be shaped, sanded, and dyed, producing panels, furniture, and decorative elements with finishes from stone-like to terrazzo textures. Its production is local and circular, recycling hundreds of cups per square meter, and it offers both aesthetic versatility and tactile authenticity.
Critically, Cupsan challenges conventional material systems by converting urban waste into functional, durable surfaces. Its plastic-free composition and adaptability demonstrate sustainability in design practice. Yet its long-term durability, large-scale scalability, and performance under intensive use remain open questions. How will it perform in high-traffic or industrial applications, and can it maintain consistency across different production batches?
Nevertheless, Cupsan exemplifies how innovative materials can merge environmental responsibility with design integrity, offering architects and designers a forward-looking model for sustainable interiors.
Conclusion
Cupsan by Blast Studio is more than a new material: it is a proposition for rethinking what waste means in architecture. It turns the coffee cups used in daily rhythm of city life into surfaces, furniture, panels that can last, express, and perform. With finishes that range from raw stone-like texture to polished terraces of pattern, and properties that include workability, fire resistance, recyclability, and strength similar to wood, it bridges multiple architectural demands.
Its impact lies in its simplicity and honesty: using what is available, processing it thoughtfully, and crafting it into something useful and beautiful. For architecture and designers, Cupsan is a call to reconsider material norms. It suggests that resourcefulness, ecological awareness, and craftsmanship can reinvigorate interiors. As cities and buildings face increasing pressure to reduce waste and energy, biomaterials like Cupsan will become essential tools—not just options. This material points toward a future where interiors are built with integrity, where every surface tells a story of renewal and care.
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