Hugo f Garcia

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Design & strategy for a more-than-human world.

RESINERORevitalising pine resin for sustainable products, for rural communities support and forest ecosystem protection.

YEAR:
2024

CLIENT:
Personal Project

NETWORK:
Dr Aida Rodriguez
United Resins

HIGHLIGHTS:
Sydney Asnell Award for Outstanding Performance in Design Engineering

Pine resin is naturally transparent, waterproof, antibacterial, biodegradable, and a carbon sink, but it can be brittle and has a low melting point. Resinero has developed a new composite material that enhances these properties, making it suitable for architectural panels, lampshades, and containers. This composite requires 80% less energy and is 60% lighter than glass, offering a lower climate impact.

The project relies on skilled resin tappers who extract resin without harming trees, maintaining forest health and biodiversity. This practice reduces wildfire risks by a threshold and has an estimated societal impact of over £300 million in Castilla León, Spain. Resinero helps stabilise rural populations by providing stable livelihoods, where 80% of towns are at risk of disappearing.

Join Resinero in envisioning a future where resin products contribute to reduced CO2 emissions, support rural economies, and foster a deeper connection to nature. It represents a movement towards a sustainable and balanced world, combining innovative material use with community-centric practices.

Special thanks to the people & organisations that made this project possible:

Dr Aída Rodriguez for their knowledge and love for the pine forest.
Rui Santos & United Resins for providing the Materials.
Ivan, the Resin Tapper who showed me his forest.
Nacho Mesa, the fifth generation of Resin Tappers
The “La Caixa” Foundation for their generosity in sponsoring my studies.

Soria, Spain. Resin-tapped trees in the forest.

Ivan, one of the Resineros interviewed, at work.

Resin Tappers during an interview.

A bucket filled with Raw Resin.

After field research, we were able to make a stakeholder map to understand the benefits and connections between human and non-human stakeholders. The need for new applications based on better properties was clear.

Vision

Material Experimentation to enhance the properties of Resin.

Pine Resin and Gum Rosin with the Material Derivated from Material Exploration.

To Enhance the natural properties of resin we combined the raw material with different natural binders.

After achieving a stable material based on resin, we test different ways of manufacturing the material, including blowing, roto moulding and mould injection.

Outcome (I)

Pine Glass: Feels like glass, without the concerns.

Outcome (II)

Pine Glass could make glass obsolete. Providing a more carbon negative alternative.

A fully biodegradable light bulb

Container made of Pine Glass

Christmas bumble

Pine Glass Vessels

A broken bottle of Pine Glass

Perfume bottle of Pine Glass

Outcome (III)

A System Innovation. Resin Applications to close the Gap between Urban & Rural areas, providing benefits for all the Stakeholders.

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hugo@hugofgarcia.com

Design for a more-than-human world.