About
us
Coffeefrom is an innovative start-up with a social purpose formed by a multidisciplinary team. In a circular economy approach, we transform the coffee grounds of the food industry collected as a by-product into infinite expressive possibilities. Specifically, starting from coffee wastes, we develop new recycled and bio-based thermoplastic materials, shaped into innovative application scenarios and design products. We believe in the contamination of values and resources between supply chains, and this is why our environmental, social, design and industrial skills meet in a virtuous industrial symbiosis. Within this model, we create social impact through the inclusion of fragile workers in logistics activities and the collaboration with social companies and projects.
Scaling the impact
Our history
Coffeefrom starts from an entrepreneurial input of Il Giardinone social enterprise, which since 1996 has dealt with environmental services in a strong inclusive logic. Il Giardinone’s journey into the circular economy began during Expo 2015. From a research project in collaboration with Lavazza, Novamont and the Polytechnic of Turin, Il Giardinone started to transform coffee grounds for the cultivation of mushrooms, laying the foundations for a new brand. In 2016 Fungo Box, the kit of self-production of fresh mushrooms from coffee grounds of local bars, was launched. Over the years, the know-how in the collection and transformation of coffee waste was strengthened, and brought the company towards a new vision. In 2019, the idea of transforming industrial coffee grounds into new materials through a new project, Coffeefrom, was then set up.
The value of social responsibility
A social and inclusive project
Our project is based on social responsibility values. For us, circular economy is a perfect model to create job opportunities for fragile workers, directly involved in the logistics and packaging activities. We also collaborate with other local social enterprises and start ups in order to create a broader positive impact on the community.
Our vision
Design for a better future
Coffeefrom is our vision to reduce organic wastes. Together with our partners, we study, experiment, and evaluate new forms and applications so that our innovation can be increasingly sustainable and technically performing. We always work with the idea that we can contaminate industrial practice, in order to create a new circular production model.
Awards and mentions
1st edition Re-Food Award
Competition promoted by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Architecture of the University of Naples Federico II, in collaboration with the ADI (Association for Industrial Design). The competition aims to stimulate a creative rethinking of waste materials from agri-food chains through the conception and production of objects and systems of everyday objects.
ADI Design Index 2022
The Coffeefrom Cup and Saucer are part of the ADI Design Index 2022, among the 13 projects within the category “Social Design”. ADI Design Index publishes every year the best of Italian design, selected by the Permanent Observatory of Design ADI, and is the first step in the path of awarding the Compasso d’Oro Award 2024.
Mention “Towards a circular economy” Award
Promoted by Cogeme Foundation as part of the project “Towards a circular economy”, the sixth edition of the Award of Excellence is aimed at local authorities and the business world active on projects aimed at sustainable development goals. The aim of the award is to support those paths towards industrial systems that encourage the recycling and reuse of resources.