Blended Materials

Tom van Soest is an industrial designer who has led his company StoneCycling from its inception during his studies at Design Academy Eindhoven to its current iteration as provider of high-end building materials to sustainable architecture projects.

Van Soest designed a blender that pulverizes demolition waste materials like window glass, brick and concrete. In general, demolition waste is used as a foundation in roads, at which the cycle for industrial waste ends. Van Soest’s method upcycles these materials into a new building block. The resulting powder is mixed and fired; glass functions as the binder. The material that comes out of the kiln has stone-like qualities and can serve as a semi-finished product such as tile or table top. Van Soest has since developed Blended Materials into bricks for sustainable building projects all over the world. The goal is to eliminate the need for raw material in construction.