Hatch series by studio yellowdot repurposes eggshells

Studio Yellowdot repurposes eggshell waste as a diffuser for their pendant light as part of their ongoing design research and series, Hatch. The piece of lighting was on display inside the Hong Kong Pavilion during Maison&Objet 2024 Fall Edition in Parc des Expositions of Paris-Nord Villepinte, from September 5th to 9th, 2024. The design studio, led by Dilara Kan Hon and Bodin Hon, collected around 60 eggs over the course of a month.

Once they had them, it’s a thorough process. They had to handle the broken pieces of eggshells with care to avoid ending up with crushed, tiny bits. The results gave them chunky pieces, enough to diffuse the light once the beam hit them. They bonded these pieces with resin, and once it hardened, the pendant light came to life.

all photos by Ali Gulsener, courtesy of Studio Yellowdot, unless stated otherwise

Lighting piece suspended by three thread-thin cables

Three thread-thin cables suspend the lighting, which forms part of the series, Hatch. The patterns of the recycled eggshells spread out the light from the LED light just above them. When users switch on the lighting, a dream-like series of shadow blotches appear on the walls and surroundings, a masterwork of the eggshells. The LED light is inserted into hand-turned polished brass, a material that both contrasts and complements the resin-added eggshells. As Studio Yellowdot describes it, the lighting gives spaces and fairs like at Maison&Objet 2024 an airy ambiance.

Hatch continues. The design studio brings some of the pendant lighting’s siblings to the Lake Como Design Festival as part of the ‘Lightness’ Contemporary Design Selection curated by Giovanna Massoni, running between September 15th and 22nd, 2024. Dilara Kan Hon and Bodin Hon began looking into recycled eggshells as potential lighting materials back in 2021. Since then, they’ve produced pieces that attest to the material’s potential to be repurposed as design objects, including a kinetic sculpture made of eggshells enclosed in resin discs.

Studio Yellowdot repurposes eggshell waste as a diffuser for their pendant light

Recycling eggshells into lighting objects to reduce waste

The days of the lockdown periods during the COVID pandemic brought Studio Yellowdot to a point of reflection. Holed up in their studio, which is based between Hong Kong and Istanbul, they investigated everyday bio-waste materials that they might be able to use in their design projects.

They chose recycled eggshells because, in Hong Kong, the annual egg consumption per capita is around 450 eggs. Second, they believe that eggshells are versatile, and by repurposing their waste—especially since their protective shell is usually discarded in landfills—they may be able to contribute to giving these husks another purpose and life.

detailed view of the pendant light made of recycled eggshells bonded with resin