Orygo

Overview

40% of the world's plastic waste comes from packaging

9% of the world's plastic waste is recycled

Plastic cutlery, plates, and cups can take up to 500 years to decompose, lingering for generations while releasing harmful toxins into the environment (Our World Data).

There is a growing need to ditch single use plastics. I prototyped a travel-friendly and reusable plate that can safely be used for eating on-the-go, combining convenience with sustainability.

Orygo plate.mov

Product Design Goals

Deliverables

Design and Development

The Initial Concept

The foldable plate design is marked with a one way folding “shell” with a flexible “skin.”

My goal was to maximize compactness and condense the wide shape of a plate into the size of a wallet.

With existing collapsible plates, they often flatten down and retain their width. This can’t fit inside areas like a pocket or small bag.

The folding nature of the plate design keeps the inside (where users would place food) away from the elements.

Alternative Designs for Consideration

Wire and Mesh

Too easy to warp

Fully Silicone Plate

Too saggy

Plate Container

Still too wide

Initial Prototyping (Pretotyping)

Material Experimentation and Iteration

To create a sturdier plate that could hold food, I used wood and silicone. Wood was an affordable prototyping material that could be readily laser cut into shape. Silicone was moldable and could withstand several rounds of folding.

Based on the adjustments I made to the design, I was eventually able to create a plate prototype that could effectively hold up food while still folding as intended.

Fit and Finish

The plate folded correctly and was strong enough to hold items on top of it, but it certainly could use some improvements:

The flat shape in the design meant that food could fall right off (no plate edge)
Translucent silicone would show all of the mess underneath, creating an unfinished look
The plate couldn’t stay closed

Future Work in Fabrication

Product development takes time, and there’s room for further material studies, usability testing, and experimentation.

Potential materials for the shell:

Injection molded polypropylene (PP), and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) survives a lot of fold/unfold cycles. Polywood has made an entire business out of HDPE backyard furniture. Both of these are sturdy + food safe.

PA11 (a type of nylon) is another option with desireable properties that is bioderived from castor beans.

Potential materials for the skin:

In addition to silicone, thermoplastic polyurethane is a softer, flexible material that is used for hydration bladders.