Our Story
Coffee is so much more than a drink.
It’s at the centre of life’s special moments
Meeting new friends, catching up with old ones, fuelling your day, or bringing moments of calm.
But have you considered that your cup of coffee could be the start of a new story?
We thought it could be.
For a long time, we felt disheartened by the volume of waste associated with the interior design and construction industry. We wanted to find a way to address the issue of cheaply produced materials being shipped from other countries, having a short life cycle, and ending up in landfills.
Our lightbulb moment came when our founder, Jani, cleaned used coffee grounds from an espresso machine. He realised there was no shortage of this by-product. In fact, coffee is the second most traded product in the world, and food waste is thought to contribute to 8% of the man-made gases contributing to climate change.
Surely there had to be a way to utilise this waste product sustainably?
Maybe we could give it a new lease of life whilst simultaneously addressing the issue of sustainably lead materials in the interior design industry.
Excited by the prospect of doing our duty for the planet, we got to work, armed with a big bag of used coffee grounds and a determination to find a solution.
Drawing on our 30 years of experience and knowledge in furniture making and cabinetry, we found an innovative, planet-friendly way to stabilise and bond this raw material.
We created KAVA, a beautiful, strong, and sustainable material made from used coffee grounds.
Fast-forward to today, and we have a full range of colours and finishes.
We now also utilise other food wastes, such as fruit stones and combine these with natural plastic-free resins to create a surface coating that can be applied to any sheet material for use in multiple interior and architectural projects
A cup of coffee can be the start of a new story… and there are so many more stories left to tell.