Common Sands - Forite

Common Sands is a collaborative research project between Studio Plastique, Snøhetta and Italian ceramic tile manufacturer Fornace Brioni. The project explores potential applications of recycled e-waste glass, while bringing awareness to the growing global glass shortages. The project won Dezeen’s “Sustainable design of the year” award in 2021.

OiOiOi has documented the project development from its inception. Through the lens of OiOiOi, Common Sands explores the translucent nature of the e-waste mix and its applications. Through experimentation with light and transparency, the images uncover the beauty that lies inherent in this repurposed material that is typically regarded as waste.

In this project, OiOiOi was able to follow the magical development from opaque sand to something translucent, from waste materials and back to upcycled products with new applications. This has helped build a visual narrative that puts an underexplored waste stream into a new light.

The volume of electronic waste from discarded electronic devices is growing rapidly across the planet. Common Sands aims to address the issue with short lifespans of these devices and insufficient recycling opportunities – and to bring new life to otherwise unwanted materials.

Glass is made from high-quality industrial sand, or silica sand – a material that is in rapid decline due to its limited available volumes combined with extreme demand. The project plays with light, scale, depth and tactility, and has provided an open playing field for OiOiOi’s creative storytelling development.