Zestep

Zestep is the project of Leonardo Cavalluzzi, an eyewear and industrial designer who graduated in product design in 2020, took a master’s in digital art direction in 2021 and joined the eyewear industry in 2022 as designer and 3D prototyping specialist. He developed it with Techinit, founded in 2016 as a design spin-off inside Tecnogas, now part of the +4 Holding Group and active in extruding high-tech plastics and 3D printing filaments.

The name comes from the coloured curls cut from cellulose acetate slabs, one of the largest waste streams in eyewear: like citrus zests, they can be given new use. Field research measured the quantities and formats of the scraps, samples were checked for contamination, and extrusion into filament followed, opening the way to recycled acetate for 3D printing and granulate for objects.