Luf 育苗盤 by Industrial Design College of LAFA

Luf 育苗盤 by Industrial Design College of LAFA is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2023 A' Design Award 鐵獎 in 可持續產品設計 Competition Category.

鐵可持續產品· 2023

Luf 育苗盤

by Industrial Design College of LAFA

Client: LuXun Academy of Fine Arts

A' Design Award 鐵獎 Winner in 可持續產品 Category

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Verified Award Winner

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View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

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The Design

About Luf 育苗盤

Luf係一款以絲瓜纖維製成嘅育苗盤。Luf用一種可生物降解嘅物料取代塑膠育苗盤，呢種物料由碾碎嘅絲瓜、生物基黏合劑同固化劑混合而成，經加熱同模具壓製而成。呢啲育苗盤可以互相疊埋一齊，令一個人一次過就可以搬運超過五個。每個育苗盤分為三個獨立部分，可以沿住標記線裁開。當幼苗長成之後，成個育苗盤可以直接種入泥土，喺土壤入面自然分解成養分。絲瓜嘅種子仲可以收集返嚟，用嚟繼續培植。

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award 鐵獎

Luf 育苗盤是 A' Design Award 鐵獎得主，這是授予滿足人們對設計精良的創作所期待的專業與工業要求的優良設計的聲望認可。鐵獎得主展現出其創作者的高超技藝、高度專業化、專家級的理解力和創造能力。預計Luf 育苗盤將成為一件備受推崇、令人欽佩且被珍愛的創作，既實用又創新。這件贏得 A' Design Award 鐵獎的設計整合了行業最佳實踐，並擁有與專業知識和才華相結合的稱職技術特性。Luf 育苗盤因其嚴謹而受到尊重，旨在提供有助於讓世界變得更美好的生活品質改善。

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