Jannis Kempkens

Jannis Kempkens is a designer, material researcher and furniture carpenter working between science, art and design, with every project built on open source and open design principles. He is one of the founders of Circology, an international material research and circular design studio that works with companies and industries on open solutions to their waste and circular development challenges.

With Precious Plastic he developed Beyond Plastic, a project on biodegradable alternatives to plastic that includes a machine turning local food waste into compostable products, released together with all blueprints, documentation and recipes. In 2018 he started Plasticula, which investigates the relationship between living organisms and designers — and the ability of worms to eat and digest polystyrene. He lives between Berlin and Eindhoven.