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MaDe Finalist
Name

Carolina Giorgiani

Material
Butt_er
Nationality
Italian
Classification
Recovery
Workshop
Milan
Category
Industry
Profile

I am Carolina Giorgiani, 28 years old. Born and based in Milan, raised in Fano, by the Adriatic sea.
MA in Product Design for Innovation at Politecnico of Milan. BA in Product Design at L.A.B.A. Fine Arts Academy, Rimini (Italy). Fond of material futures, since my studies in Politecnico at Material Experiences course led by Valentina Rognoli.
My graduation project “Butts Ocean” has been a research on new processes, new functions and aesthetics in order to give new life to a polluting waste: cigarette butts. 

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Project Information
Material Qualities
Color: various. Violet, red, green
Soft / hard: not completely hard neither soft
Shiny / matt: matt
Smells: it loses odor with time
Texture: irregular
Others: spreadable, slightly flexible, shapeable
Material Recipe
4 stoppers of acetone, 30 cigarette butts, food colours
Material Application
- eyeglasses
- film
- alternative uses as packaging
- bowls
- labels
- covering material
Material Narrative
The material was born to deal with the problem of cigarette butts pollution. This kind of waste is a huge problem in the world. Tobacco producers and governments should take on this responsibility. So the material comes from this necessity.
It is interesting working with cigarette butts because I think they are very versatile, they come from the same material of eyeglasses (acetate cellulose), and trough acetone they create a mixture similar to glue. The final result is unexpected, completely different from the starting material and aesthetically appreciable and interesting.
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MaDe, a project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of The European Union, aims at boosting talents towards circular economies across Europe partnering with design and cultural institutions, Elisava, Ma-tt-er and Politecnico di Milano.

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