The New Raw is a research and design studio based in Rotterdam and was founded in 2015 by architects Panos Sakkas and Foteini Setaki with the ambition to give new life to discarded materials through design, robots and craftsmanship. The New Raw already introduced several meaningful products that are 100% circular.
The Knotty is their newest project. A collection of playful benches with a bold and tactile texture. Inspired by knitting techniques. The project treats plastic waste as a continuous thread of material which folds, twists and loops. To create an intriguing tactile surface that resembles textiles, and invites users to touch it.
This innovative 3D sculpted fabric dresses a new family of benches. Produced in three different shapes and sizes and two colours: mint and peach. The sculpted material texture, consisting of thick and seemingly soft knots, creates a surface for outdoor and indoor furniture or other architectural applications.
Knotty is the latest evolution of the studio’s on-going research, which started in 2017. Inspired by nature (seashells in their Second Nature statement pieces, geological layering in their Stratum entrance furniture) and craftsmanship (carving in their COMB mural), TheNew Raw relentlessly pushes the boundaries and buttons to transform recycled plastic through developing tools and new approaches which reinvent craft in the contemporary digital and automated context.
