Monday, November 4, 2024
Chrome-free leather tanning, brown algae packaging… Carats innovates for more responsible luxury
An initiative dedicated to innovation in the luxury sector and linked to France’s Carnot institutes, Carats’s raison d’être is to improve processes and materials in partnership with industry. Several of its prototypes were exhibited at Luxe Pack Monaco 2024. Current R&D programs cover green chemistry and biomaterials, recycling and elimination of hazardous substances for glass coloring or leather tanning, additive manufacturing, lasers, connected objects and anti-counterfeiting…
Linking luxury and eco-responsibility is one of the leitmotivs of Carats research projects. At the Luxe Pack Monaco 2024 trade show, these university units, which are linked to the French Carnot research network, unveiled numerous innovations applicable to the luxury and fashion sectors. Presented in the form of concrete pilot products, these were developed with publicly funded labs and technical centers as well as private companies.
On the materials’ front, Carats showed AlgiFoam, an expanded biopolymer foam based on alginate, a polysaccharide derived from brown algae. Obtained by cold extrusion, the beads are compressed (without glue) in a mold or in sheet form; these were used, on a test basis, to create packaging in partnership with Gainerie 91. This development was initiated by Carnot M.I.N.E.S through IMT Mines Alès and its C2MA materials center. The materials’ industrialization is currently being researched by a dedicated start-up.
New paths for glass and metal
Another project, mainly supported by Carnot Icéel, is the Colver bottle, whose glass is colored using a technique known as agromine—a process that depollutes soils by using plants to capture heavy metals. The plants are then incinerated to extract metallic pigment powder. Nickel, for example, will produce hues ranging from brown to violet. The bottle on show was topped with a transparent glass stopper that was 3D laser-printed using the Glam process patented by Cerfav (The European research and training center for glassmaking).
Source : Formes de Luxe
