LOUNGEPLUS

This design series was developed at BioMat GmbH, exploring the potential of Bioflexi—a highly compressed fibreboard made from up to 90% annually renewable natural fibres such as wheat, maize, rice, oat, barley, or rye straw. When rice straw is used, the fibreboard gains an additional advantage from its naturally high silicate content (up to 20% of the dry fibre weight), which acts as a natural fire retardant. Fire resistance can be further enhanced with mineral-based additives. The binder used is an environmentally friendly elastic bioplastic, ensuring that at the end of its life the material can be recycled or composted.

The project capitalized on Bioflexi’s sustainable life cycle, avoiding waste both through the use of agricultural by-products in its production and through its ability to biodegrade if recycling is not possible. This made it ideally suited for a series of lounge furniture pieces, where its structural capacity, fire resistance, and eco-friendly composition could be expressed in both functional and aesthetic form.

This work was supported by the PLUS – Sandwich elements from agricultural residues with integrated sound and thermal insulation research project, funded by the BMEL – Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V. (FNR) under the German Federal Government.