A group of color and material design students from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan, has taken two invasive species of mussels and transformed them into a useful resource. The design team – Emily Marquette, Mahsa Banadaki and Wei Huang – proposes using zebra and quagga mussels, which are invasive to the USA’s Great Lakes ecosystem, as a source of calcium carbonate and colorant in the creation of region specific soda lime glass. The project seeks to transform these species from an ecological threat to an over-abundant regional resource that can be harvested and used for artisanal and industrial glass and ceramic applications.
Project Name: Zebra Glass
Design Team: Emily Marquette, Mahsa Banadaki, Wei Huang
Instructor: Matthew Strong
Resource submitted by Ben Orozco
