used london tea leaves and coffee waste recast as large-scale 3D printed sculptural objects
TEA AND COFFEE RESIDUES BECOME EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN MATERIALS
After the Last Sip brings together Taiwanese designers Chao-Chun Kung, Ching-Yu Lin and Chen-Yang Chang, with spatial curation by Chih-Han Liu, to explore how familiar food and drink residues can become materials for contemporary design. The project begins with used tea leaves collected from London bubble tea shops and spent coffee grounds from local cafés. These residues are dried, ground and compounded with PLA before undergoing material tests examining how variations in particle size, composition and blending affect colour, texture, translucency and structural behaviour. Through parametric design and large-scale robotic 3D printing at Fab.Pub, the experimental composites are transformed into furniture, lighting and sculptural objects. Rather than concealing the marks of fabrication, the works retain their printed layers, particles and irregular textures, allowing traces of both material origin and manufacturing process to remain visible.
After the Last Sip | all images © Chao-Chun Kung, Ching-Yu Lin and Chen-Yang Chang
ROBOTIC 3D PRINTING GIVES food and drink RESIDUES NEW FORM
Chao-Chun Kung, Ching-Yu Lin and Chen-Yang Chang form the design team behind After the Last Sip project. Chao-Chun Kung’s CHA / 茶 draws on Taiwan’s tea-drinking traditions, using tea simultaneously as material, cultural reference and the basis for a custom parametric system derived from the Chinese character 茶. Ching-Yu Lin’s Undetermined Shore uses coffee-ground composites to create layered, sediment-like surfaces inspired by Taiwan’s shifting coastline. Chen-Yang Chang’s Nexus Bloom and Unfolding Bloom explore continuous parametric geometries through digital design and 3D printing. Alongside the finished works, the exhibition presents material samples and traces of the fabrication process, revealing the testing, failures and discoveries behind the project. After the Last Sip takes place at Fab.Pub in East London from 12th–18th September 2026, during London Design Festival.
CHA / 茶 by Chao-Chun Kung – tea-waste PLA composite developed through a custom parametric system derived from the Chinese character 茶
Iced Tea by Chao-Chun Kung – large-scale 3D-printed lighting in tea-waste PLA composite
detail of Iced Tea showing printed layers, translucency, and material texture
the works retain their printed layers, particles and irregular textures
Undetermined Shore by Ching-Yu Lin – coffee-ground PLA composite with layered, sediment-like surfaces
Nexus Bloom by Chen-Yang Chang – tea-waste PLA composite explores continuous parametric geometry
large-scale robotic 3D printing at Fab.Pub, London; Chao-Chun Kung with a printed component
material processing at Fab.Pub: preparing recovered tea and coffee residues for composite fabrication
After the Last Sip takes place at Fab.Pub during London Design Festival
project info:
name: After the Last Sip
designer: Innovus.Lab | @innovus.lab.ldn
design team: Chao-Chun Kung, Ching-Yu Lin, Chen-Yang Chang
venue: Fab.Pub, London, UK
dates: September 12th–18th, 2026
designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. See more project submissions from our readers here.
edited by: Christina Vergopoulou | designboom
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