Luf Bandeja de Semillero by Industrial Design College of LAFA

Luf Bandeja de Semillero by Industrial Design College of LAFA is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2023 A' Design Award de Hierro in Diseño de Producto Sostenible Competition Category.

HierroProducto Sostenible· 2023

Luf Bandeja de Semillero

by Industrial Design College of LAFA

Client: LuXun Academy of Fine Arts

A' Design Award de Hierro Winner in Producto Sostenible Category

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Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #148786

View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

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The Design

About Luf Bandeja de Semillero

Luf es una bandeja de semillero fabricada con fibra de lufa. Luf sustituye las bandejas de plástico por un material biodegradable formado a partir de lufa triturada, un adhesivo de origen biológico y un agente de curado, que se calientan y prensan en un molde. Las bandejas se apilan entre sí, de modo que una sola persona puede transportar más de cinco bandejas a la vez. Cada bandeja se divide en tres partes independientes y puede cortarse siguiendo las líneas marcadas. Una vez que las plántulas maduran, la bandeja se planta en la tierra, donde se descompone en nutrientes. Las semillas de lufa pueden recolectarse y utilizarse para nuevos cultivos.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award de Hierro

Luf Bandeja de Semillero ha ganado el A' Design Award de Hierro, un reconocimiento prestigioso concedido a buenos diseños que cumplen los requisitos profesionales e industriales que se esperan de creaciones bien diseñadas. Los ganadores de Hierro demuestran gran habilidad, alta especialización, comprensión experta y capacidad creativa de sus creadores. Se espera que Luf Bandeja de Semillero sea una creación muy apreciada, admirada y querida, práctica e innovadora. Este diseño ganador del A' Design Award de Hierro integra las mejores prácticas del sector y tiene características técnicas competentes unidas a conocimiento práctico y talento. Luf Bandeja de Semillero es respetado por su minuciosidad y está concebido para aportar mejoras en la calidad de vida que ayudan a hacer del mundo un lugar mejor.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: The development model of converting plastic seedling trays "from cradle to grave" to loofah biodegradable trays "from cradle to cradle". Break the loofah and hot-press glutinous rice glue to synthesize new materials. The trays can be interspersed up and down and a single person can carry more than five trays at a time. Transplanted into the soil and degraded into nutrients. The chassis can be reused or dried for crops, and the loofah seeds can also be recycled to continue seedling cultivation.
Dimensions & Packaging: Width 800mm x Depth 490mm x Height 70mm，The size of the hole plate is 540 mm*280 mm. Vegetable seedlings generally use 50 to 288holes. The shape of the holes is round or square, generally between 0.6 and 1.2 mm.
Tags: Loofah, seedling tray, transportation, rural revitalization strategy, sustainable design
Production Technology: Prepare 50 parts of loofah fiber, 15 parts of bio-based green adhesive, 1 part of curing agent, and 2 parts of ethanol diluent in the weight ratio, and heat the prepared materials in the mold at 20 °C to 0.2 MPa for 60 min. The finished product has been tested for load-bearing, water seepage, stretching, and degradation. After the loofah is crushed and combined with other green raw materials, it can form a block shape, which meets the basic standards for seedling trays.
Design Challenge: Applying the loofah material of agricultural waste to seedling trays, from the perspective of circular design, it is necessary to meet the functionality while conforming to the sustainable design theory, and give full play to the social, cultural and commercial values of agricultural waste in the design. New rural construction under the strategy of rural revitalization. It should be explored whether this material can be directly applied to 3D printing to make more finished products.
Research: (1)Clean up the loofah fiber to remove impurities (2) Dry the loofah fiber (3) Add binder and diluent to the dried loofah fiber and stir fully to make a premix (4) Mix well The final premix is added with curing agent and then fully stirred as a preparation (5) Heat the preparation in the mold at 20°C to 0.2MPa and pre-press for 60min (6) Heat at 20°C and press at 40MPa for 10min The finished product is obtained.
Inspiration: In China's vigorous implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, the scale of agricultural production has expanded, leading to an increase in crop residues. With the advantages of high yield and degradability of loofah, it has been widely used in the field of seedling cultivation along with the "C2C" concept. Large-scale nursery bases are mechanized facilities and are not suitable for rural areas. Natural materials used in plant cultivation are finally back to nature.
Project Duration: The project started in May 2022 and finished in January 2023 in Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts.
Operation Flow: Establish a closed cycle metabolic process of "production-recovery-remanufacture" of raw materials. The chassis of the whole seedling can be carried by a single person according to the weight of more than 5 trays, which are divided into three independent trays. After the plant seedlings are mature, they are transplanted into the soil, and can be cut as a whole or along the dotted line to be transplanted as independent individuals. After transplanting, they will soon decompose into the soil.
Team Members: Designer: Du Heli
Designer: Jia Zhuohang
Designer: Xue Bomu
Image Credits: Image #1: Designer Du Heli, Jia Zhuohang and Xue Bomu, Luf, 2023
Image #2: Designer Du Heli, Jia Zhuohang and Xue Bomu, Luf, 2023
Image #3: Designer Du Heli, Jia Zhuohang and Xue Bomu, Luf, 2023
Image #4: Designer Du Heli, Jia Zhuohang and Xue Bomu, Luf, 2023
Image #5: Designer Du Heli, Jia Zhuohang and Xue Bomu, Luf, 2023