Singapore Design Week 2025: PLANKWARE

Plankware is a speculative project combining climate-focused design and exhibition design, exploring how we might work with environmental systems rather than against them. Featured in the Coastal Survivability exhibition at Singapore Design Week 2025, it proposes edible, biodegradable tableware made from agar agar and a nutrient-rich microalgae, Spirulina. Through material experimentation, the project reimagines everyday consumption as something that can both nourish the body and reduce environmental impact.

Phytoplankton are essential to coastal survivability. But in excessive amounts, they can become toxic, disrupting marine ecosystems and harming coastal life. How can we transform this overgrowth into something useful?

The project proposes a series of edible, biodegradable tableware made from agar agar, a biopolymer derived from Gracilariales seaweed, and infused with Spirulina, a nutrient-rich microalgae containing antioxidants, omega-3s, and essential minerals. By integrating these resources, Plankware reframes marine-derived resources, including ecological excess, as potential inputs for everyday objects.

Through iterative prototyping, the project involved testing different material compositions, drying methods, and forming techniques to balance structure, durability, and finish. This process highlighted both the possibilities and limitations of working with natural biopolymers as alternatives to petroleum-based plastics.

Plankware ultimately reimagines everyday consumption as a more integrated act — one where the objects we use can nourish the body, reduce waste, and exist as part of a regenerative material cycle rather than a disposable one.