Let residents help shape what their waste becomes.
A bench can be more than somewhere to sit. At Hanth square, printed furniture combines seating with planters and other uses, connecting a material loop to public space.
GR GreeceIn practice. The New Raw’s 2019 Hanth installation formed part of the Thessaloniki Print Your City pilot, following a public Zero Waste Lab launched in 2018.
What to keep in view
The sources document the 2018–19 pilot and installation. They do not establish the present condition of every piece or independently verify the project’s carbon-saving claims.
Make participation tangible
The project invited citizens to customise furniture through an online platform. Options included a planter, bicycle rack, bookcase, exercise feature or dog-feeding bowl. A public object could therefore respond to more than one use.
The pieces were printed in recycled polypropylene. Their curved outlines and visible layers make the production process part of their appearance. The nearby Zero Waste Lab connected the pilot with public explanations of recycling and robotic fabrication.
Connect a local place with a wider design practice
The New Raw is a Rotterdam-based studio founded by Panos Sakkas and Foteini Setaki. This is its Greek deployment, commissioned by Coca-Cola in Greece, rather than a claim that the studio is based in Thessaloniki.
The enduring question is how material recovery becomes useful and desirable in everyday life. Public participation can help define that usefulness, but long-term maintenance, repair and eventual recycling still need an owner and a practical route.

