Scrap into Home Decor
All of the dried leaves, twigs, and other debris scattered outside do not have to end up in the trash as they have some important use after all.
A Filipino company called the Nature’s Legacy Eximport Inc. realized this and developed a lightweight material made of wastes found in your garden or porch.
Founded by Pete and Cathy Delantar from Cebu, Philippines, the company boasts of this award-winning material called Naturescast that can be shaped, sculpted, or customized into chairs, vases, wall art and other home furnishings.
Their sustainable products have now reached homes and buildings around the world.
This is not the only product they have produced from what are supposed to be useless materials.
In the early days of the company, the couple discovered a material when they were looking for products to include in their décor and design market.
“We wanted to simulate natural-looking stone using materials,” Pete tells Inquirer. He was referring to Stonecast, a lightweight material handmade from natural crush stone which is made into pots and vases.
Saying that they love to develop products from wastes is an understatement. It is already an obsession.
Recently, Nature’s Legacy Eximport Inc. released Nucast, which is a sturdy material made from recycled papers but has no volatile organic compounds. Another is G-SKIN, which is an interior wall material made to look like bamboos, leather or cement.
Many of their sustainable products rely in a proprietary-binder formula that turns scrap into extravagant home décor. This has lead them to export in over 41 countries, providing for big shot home owners, hotels, and condominiums, among others.
Later, thanks to the success of ther sustainability program, the company launched a fashion jewelry line called Floreia. Like their furnishing products, the luxury accessories have been exported to over 28 countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal, United Arab Emirates, and Japan.
With the apparent success of Naturescast, it was noticed by the Sustainable Furnishings Council, a US-based nonprofit balanced coalition of industry players created to promote sustainable practices among manufacturers, retailers and consumers. Pete was invited to become a founding member of that organization, the first Filipino to be so.
In 2015, he also made history as the first and only Filipino to receive the prestigious 2015 Gold Invention Award for the company’s entry called the “Molded Coarse Particle Product with Cast Paper-Based Reinforcement”. It won the major prize besting over 800 inventors from all over the globe at the 43rd International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva, Switzerland.
Pete calls all Filipinos to “keep looking, keep experimenting”. He says, “My invention is so simple yet very practical. I wish every Filipino would be encouraged to invent something out of nothing … from things we take for granted or consider scrap, castaway or of no value.”
He also took to the local government units, corporations, and companies to spread a mindset of sustainable development. A simple garbage segregation goes a long way.
“We need to educate our people on how to do it, and help them to understand and feel that we are all part of the Earth that we need to save,” he adds.
Source: Inquirer
