Copyright © Françoise Herrmann
Founded by the French architect Clarisse Merlet, FabBRICK® is a company that upcycles used and/or waste textiles into bricks, in turn used for interior design, decorative cladding, and/or thermal or sound insulation. Textiles, sorted by fiber and/or color palette, are shredded, mixed with a patented adhesive compound, and then compressed into bricks that are dried, prior to being used in various decorative and/or functional applications. FabBRICKS® are a patented invention. The invention is recited in a family of French (FR), European (EP) and World (WO) patents, in particular WO2021078815A1, titled (in English) Recycled textile material (in French, Matériau en textile recyclé). The patent was granted on April 29th 2021, to Clarisse Merlet. The FabBRICK® invention offers a solution at the intersection of a two-fold problematic situation. First, the use of insulating construction materials that are environmentally polluting, high-energy-consuming, and/or potentially damaging. For example, such polluting materials as synthetic polystyrene insulators have a high energy footprint. Even organic, bio-sourced insulating materials have the disadvantage of being potentially depletable. For example, this is the case for plant wool made from straw, cork, or wood; animal wool harvested from sheep; or mineral wool such as fiberglass. Secondly, and most importantly, the invention seeks to offer a new outlet for recycling existing environmental waste, in particular used, and or waste textiles*. Especially considering that no prior art exists for upcycling used and/or waste textiles for construction, specifically for insulation purposes, whether thermal or acoustic.
Finally, by bringing together concerns about existing insulation material pollution with a high energy footprint , on the one hand, and limited recycling outlets for used textile waste, on the other, the FabBRICK® invention also seeks to offer a product that is aesthetically pleasing. Thus, both the FabBRICK® product and manufacturing process address problems of the prior art by upcycling used and/or waste textiles into construction and/or insulation materials, using non-polluting, organic adhesive and a press with a zero-energy-consuming footprint.
The patent Figure 1 below depicts a construction FabBRICK® 10, made of a substance 1, comprising a used and/or waste textile-based stiffening component 2, and an animal and/or plant-based adhesive matrix component 3. The patent Figures 2A and 2B depict, respectively, top (10A) and bottom (10B) views of the FabBRICK® 10. The top view 10A depicts the FabBRICK® 10 tenons 11. The bottom view 10B depicts the FabBRICK® 10 mortises 12.
The patent Figure 3 below depicts the FabBRICK® fabrication press 200**. The press 200 comprises four or more vertical molds 210, attached to a frame 201 and platform 202, and into which the FabBRICK® substance 1 is poured. Each of the molds have lateral sides 211, top 212 and bottom 213 ends. The bottom ends 213 each have a base 214 that translates under compression within the lateral sides 211. Each of the mold bases 214 is also pierced to enable all excess liquid adhesive to drain from the highly absorbent bricks, under compression forces. Excess drainage liquid is then recovered beneath the press in a collection tray, and used to dilute subsequent batches of adhesive.
The press has a double vertical compression and ejection mechanism, one at the top 220, and one at the bottom 230, each comprising a 20-ton hydraulic cylinder, a stamping hydraulic cylinder 221 at the top, and an ejection hydraulic cylinder 231 at the bottom. Thus, the press 200 exerts downward vertical compression forces on the product inside the molds 210, via a compression stamp 222, and upward ejection pressure 232 that strips the compressed bricks from the molds after a 30-minute pause. A pause designed to enable the compressed bricks to settle into their shapes with sharper edges and augmented density. Compression and ejection forces are exerted via an actuating mechanism 240, equipped with a leverage arm 241.
In the short, subtitled YouTube video below, the FabBRICK® inventor and CEO, Clarisse Merlet, presents the manufacturing process, the advantages, and rationale of her invention.
Note
* A problematic situation that has been quantified as a 4 to 5.8-million-ton surplus of used clothing, and/or waste textiles, discarded each year in Europe alone (European Environmental Agency, 2024).
References
FabBRICK® (website)
FabBRICK® (Instagram)
Transforming used textiles into bricks (Nov. 8, 2021). Youtube video [3:51].
