NUX – Material from the walnut
My practical bachelor thesis NUX focuses on the raw material of the walnut shell. In industry and in the private sector, the shell is usually burned. It is suitable as a biopolymer because its main component is lignin. The protein-rich walnut flour from the fruit, which is a by-product of the walnut oil production, was used as a binding agent. The ground shell and walnut flour are simply mixed with water. The mass is melted together by pressure and heat into a new, solid, and sensual material.
The new material stands, in the form of a can with a lid, at the center of a walnut wood plate. The jar is the storage for the fruit, the walnuts are smashed on the lid, the shell remains on the plate. The cycle can start all over again.
© Katharina Meixner