What a Waste

Founded in Singapore by designer Tingzhi Liu (TZ), WASTD operates between material innovation and real world application. After more than a decade working across fashion, materials and production, TZ became acutely aware of how waste accumulates across supply chains, and how rarely experimental materials make it past the lab or concept stage.

Rather than treating waste as something to manage or hide, WASTD approaches it as an existing condition to design with. The studio works closely with recyclers, material technologists, brands and interior designers so novel materials can move into real spaces with real uses. In a city like Singapore, where systems are stringent and standards are high, this is a process that requires patience and a willingness to test through trying.

We spoke with TZ about the thinking behind WASTD, and what it takes to move experimental materials into real spaces.

How has your earlier career and experiences shaped what you do at WASTD?

I come from a fashion background and studied material design at Central Saint Martins [in London], but my experience is as much in consumer production as it is fashion. When you come from that angle, especially in a commercial business, the concept of waste is not abstract. You see it next to you every day. The turning point for me was about asking what we do with all of it. I’ve always been drawn to how creativity and design can be powerful tools for reimagination, especially because design forces you to work with constraints.

The question then became how can we take something that’s undervalued or dismissed and turn it into something desirable. That’s really the original impulse behind WASTD. Over time, our role has evolved. Today, we sit between material technologists and innovators, and the designers who actually need to use these materials. A lot of incredible materials get stuck in labs or at concept stage, and there’s no clear path to adoption. That’s where we come in.

Can you walk us through what your production process looks like?

I often describe our process as a bridge. On one side, we look at recycling and processing technologies and ask which ones are advanced enough to be turned into something useable. On the other side, we pay close attention to market demand. What are interior designers looking for? What materials feel relevant, especially within the areas we’re designing for? Our work moves back and forth between those two sides.

Once we find that middle ground between the two sides is found, it moves into a more traditional product development process. We think about application, cost, durability and impact across the material’s entire life cycle. Unlike conventional design, where you start with an aesthetic and then source a material, we’re always working from both ends at once.

How does working in a city like Singapore influence the way you think about waste and circular design?

Singapore is incredibly efficient and very good at hiding waste. From a behavioural standpoint, most people don’t think about it because there’s a lot of trust that the system will deal with it. That’s influenced our role quite a bit. A big part of what we do is education – helping clients understand the potential of materials they’ve never really thought about. At the same time, Singapore doesn’t have the land or low-cost labour that other parts of South East Asia do, so our role naturally becomes more about connection. We work with regional innovators and help adapt their materials to meet Singapore’s standards and building codes. It’s a structured environment, but that can be useful. It sets a clear benchmark for what materials need to achieve in order to be adopted at scale.

When you start working with a new waste material, how does your testing process help you decide what it’s actually suited for?

There are definitely a lot of failures. On the research and development (R&D) side, some materials haven’t been successful, often because of production time or scalability. A lot of learning also happens during the application stage. For example, we worked on a recycled textile board that passed lab tests for hardness and stain resistance. But when it was used as a tabletop in a pizza chain, we didn’t foresee that the fibres would trap grease very easily.

So even though lab testing passed, real world application taught us something new. We had to add an extra coating to overcome the issue. A lot of our process is about building room for failure and managing expectations with clients. We’re very upfront that they are guinea pigs for an experimental material. Some clients decide not to proceed and that’s tough for a small studio, but it’s part of the process.

What feels most exciting for you right now? Are there areas you’re curious to explore?

I’m excited about the growing adoption of materials like ours. The past two years have been about learning, R&D, and now we feel we have a good understanding of different waste streams and how to turn them into useable materials.

We’re also excited to work with fashion brands, hotels and companies with consistent waste streams, where storytelling can be embedded across different spaces.

As well as this, we’re building digital tools to help designers design with waste themselves. A lot of inefficiency stops people from using these materials. If we can give designers tools to feel more comfortable exploring, this work can grow outside of our studio.

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wastd.world | @wastdworld