Hola! 👋🏼 I am Paola Zanchetta: Distributed Designer & Maker.
I am a creative and emphatic human with a hybrid technical background in design, specialized in digital fabrication technologies. My working experience is as Industrial designer, Material R&D and Project manager.
I am shaping my path to contribute to a more sustainable, inclusive, better-distributed, and regenerative world.
Contact Details
This is the documentation of the projects which I developed as Designer in Residence at Brenchies lab - Aruba (partners of Metabolic Foundation in Amsterdam), taking part in their “Plastic Beach Party” concept.
➕ about “Plastic Beach Party” 👈🏼
➕ about “Metabolic Foundation” 👈🏼
For the past couple of months I have been:
Up to 60% of the plastic waste collected on the island by Plastic Beach Party comes from single-use PET products. Currently, the non-industrial possibilities to recycle PET are limited. When the material reaches its melting temperature, it instantly becomes liquid, becoming difficult to process by Injection, Extrusion, or by Pressing it if is not mixed with other plastics (which we want to avoid doing to ensure its future re-recycling! ❌).
Plastic Beach Party is recycling PET waste into precious materials like these coloring sheets. The material crystallizes looking and behaving similar to glass, becoming brittle and translucid. Its colors come directly from PET waste and coincide with Aruba’s natural landscape appearance. ✌🏼🏝️
During the Residency, I had the opportunity to make the first experimental tests with the material boundaries of these PET recycled sheets and researched new ways of recycling PET waste into circular materials and products.