What can a designer and a researcher create together? Turning a pub free of waste! Interview with Tibor Gungl and Ákos Kmetty

Ákos Kmetty (left),Tibor Gungl (right)

A popular open-air pub’s orange peel and PLA plastic glass waste were turned into a design material by Tibor Gungl, designer of UPLUX lamps and other recycled home interior equipment. His mentor was Ákos Kmetty, senior lecturer of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at BME, in a two-week internship of the Start Programme of the Hungarian Fashion and Design Agency. Interview with Ákos Kmetty, senior lecturer of BME Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Polymer Technology, and Tibor Gungl, designer.

 Why did you choose the Department of Polymer Technology at BME?

Tibor Gungl: It was a real detective job. My starting point was to upcycle waste, and I was seeking for an organisation dealing with polymers. I contacted Ákos Kmetty after 15–20 failed attempts. It is difficult to find someone in Hungary in this sector, and ask them to help me create a new material. Most of the interns of the mentoring programmes had a design perspective instead, so they had an internship at concrete designer workshops, in the furniture industry, or the Hollóházi Porcelain Manufactory.

One of the two raw materials is PLA. What features does PLA have?

Ákos Kmetty: PLA (poly-lactic-acid) is a thermoplastic material, which is also renewable resource-based, compostable, and even recyclable. The compostability of this material does not mean that it is needed to be composted at the end of its lifetime; we can recycle it by producing something new. More