Bene and Pearson Lloyd create bFriends: a new collection of 3D printed accessories

Launching earlier this month, bFRIENDS by Bene is a brilliant new collection of desktop accessories made from discarded food packaging. Comprising pen pots, trays and a stand for mobile devices, the collection is 3D printed from 100% recycled PLA, a cornstarch-derived bioplastic, diverted from landfill.

At the end of the products’ lives, they can be easily returned to Bene to be recycled again–creating a complete, closed-loop production cycle.The collection is the result of a three-way collaboration between Bene, its longstanding design collaborator, Pearson Lloyd, and Batch.Works, a London start-up specialising in 3D-printed consumer products. In a project initiated, steered and designed by Pearson Lloyd, the three companies have come together, pooled their expertise, and developed the new line of products using locally sourced 100%recycled post-consumer PLA from Reflow, which specialises in recycling the bioplastics used in products such as food packaging for 3D printing.

For Bene, the bFRIENDS collection is both the company’s first major foray into office accessories and its first commercial application of 3D printing technology.‘The launch of bFRIENDS is exciting new territory for us, and makes Bene one of the very first furniture brands to offer a 3D printed accessory line,’ says Bene CEO, Michael Fried.

‘Pearson Lloyd’s design brilliantly demonstrates their capacity to balance form and function, and responds honestly and elegantly to both the material and the process of3D printing. The circular manufacturing model being pioneered by companies such as Batch.Works offers real hope for the sustainable future of design and production–and this collection is proof that it works. bFRIENDS is only the beginning.’