The Dutch design platform Fabrikaat is developing a method to make the ceramic industry more sustainable.
Anyone who works with clay knows the golden rule of the kiln: once clay passes the 1063°F (573°C) threshold, there is no turning back. During quartz inversion, an irreversible chemical change occurs; the clay particles fuse forever into stone. This traditional process leaves behind a major environmental legacy. Raw materials often travel long, polluting journeys, and firing at extremely high temperatures in ceramic kilns requires vast amounts of energy. If traditional ceramics break, their lifecycle ends immediately. It becomes permanent waste that can only be crushed using mechanical force. The entire process is therefore strictly linear.
Alternative Manufacturing Processes
Fabrikaat has been working on alternative manufacturing processes since 2018 to show that things can be done differently. According to the organization, the entire chain must be radically restructured, from raw material to waste. To achieve this, the platform strongly believes in cross-sector collaborations. By connecting design, materials science, and technology, surprising new insights emerge. At their research location in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, which functions as an active testing ground, the public is also intensively involved. Visitors to Fabrikaat’s lab or café act as active testers; thanks to their direct feedback, the making processes can be continually optimized.
While the focus in the early years of the project lay on material research into local raw materials—such as river clay, plants, beeswax, and mussel shells—the focus subsequently shifted to the next step: developing a fundamentally more sustainable manufacturing process by moving away from traditional kiln firing.
Instead of firing local clay at 1832 to 2192°F (1000 to 1200°C), Fabrikaat now chooses an entirely different route. They press the clay under very high pressure and then fire it at around 572°F (300°C). Because the process remains well below the critical threshold, the quartz inversion does not take place. This offers a revolutionary advantage: the process remains fully reversible. If an object breaks or is no longer wanted, you simply add a little water. The hard material immediately reduces back to a soft, moldable raw material, ready for a new product. This ensures a 100% closed material cycle that consumes only a fraction of the energy.
Challenges and Possibilities
However, low-fired clay poses a major challenge: porosity. It absorbs water like a sponge. The challenge lies in developing a bio-based, waterproof coating to make a low-fired product liquid-tight without using chemical glazes.
The first tangible result was the Coffee To-Throw Cup, developed in 2019. For this cup, a natural barrier was created by pressing the unfired clay under high pressure using a custom-designed cup press, and subsequently saturating it with pure, local beeswax.
To further professionalize biological coatings for larger interior applications, Fabrikaat collaborated with university scientists at Wageningen University Research to develop a two-component biocoating based on plant polymers. This coating penetrates deep into the microscopic pores of the dried clay. Instead of a traditional kiln fire, the product then only needs to be thermally cured at just 356°F (180°C). The coating makes the surface fully waterproof, scratch-resistant, and impact-resistant.
Because this coating adheres most consistently to a flat shape, Fabrikaat is currently focusing on a specific tile design. To gain more design freedom, an extensive pigment research project was launched using plant pigments from their own botanical test garden, such as madder for red, woad for blue, and weld for yellow. To bind these pigments, Fabrikaat uses a natural base layer of slaked lime, made from local mussel shells. The platform is also investigating possibilities to directly mix and bind pigments from iron oxides and algae with this biocoating.
Within a European project, a specialized AI company is now helping to optimize this process. Smart AI models predict the exact properties and the reaction of the coating under changing parameters. This replaces the slow trial-and-error process in the laboratory and ensures faster results when scaling up to a market-ready building material.
For the global sector, Fabrikaat’s work is a tremendous source of inspiration. It proves that we can create beautiful, functional products without destroying the raw materials beneath our feet. By relearning how to listen to the material, seeking out cross-sector cross-pollination, and thinking radically outside the traditional confines of the kiln, we keep our clay alive and infinitely circular.
the author Katerien ter Meulen is the artistic and business director of Fabrikaat. Fabrikaat’s work is currently on display at the exhibition “Sustainable Ceramics #2: Investigating a Footprint” at the Keramiekmuseum Princessehof in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, until October 25, 2026. To learn more about Fabrikaat, visit stichtingfabrikaat.nl or follow on Instagram @stichting.fabrikaat.
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The Dutch design platform Fabrikaat is developing a method to make the ceramic industry more sustainable.
Anyone who works with clay knows the golden rule of the kiln: once clay passes the 1063°F (573°C) threshold, there is no turning back. During quartz inversion, an irreversible chemical change occurs; the clay particles fuse forever into stone. This traditional process leaves behind a major environmental legacy. Raw materials often travel long, polluting journeys, and firing at extremely high temperatures in ceramic kilns requires vast amounts of energy. If traditional ceramics break, their lifecycle ends immediately. It becomes permanent waste that can only be crushed using mechanical force. The entire process is therefore strictly linear.
Alternative Manufacturing Processes
Fabrikaat has been working on alternative manufacturing processes since 2018 to show that things can be done differently. According to the organization, the entire chain must be radically restructured, from raw material to waste. To achieve this, the platform strongly believes in cross-sector collaborations. By connecting design, materials science, and technology, surprising new insights emerge. At their research location in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, which functions as an active testing ground, the public is also intensively involved. Visitors to Fabrikaat’s lab or café act as active testers; thanks to their direct feedback, the making processes can be continually optimized.
While the focus in the early years of the project lay on material research into local raw materials—such as river clay, plants, beeswax, and mussel shells—the focus subsequently shifted to the next step: developing a fundamentally more sustainable manufacturing process by moving away from traditional kiln firing.
Instead of firing local clay at 1832 to 2192°F (1000 to 1200°C), Fabrikaat now chooses an entirely different route. They press the clay under very high pressure and then fire it at around 572°F (300°C). Because the process remains well below the critical threshold, the quartz inversion does not take place. This offers a revolutionary advantage: the process remains fully reversible. If an object breaks or is no longer wanted, you simply add a little water. The hard material immediately reduces back to a soft, moldable raw material, ready for a new product. This ensures a 100% closed material cycle that consumes only a fraction of the energy.
Challenges and Possibilities
However, low-fired clay poses a major challenge: porosity. It absorbs water like a sponge. The challenge lies in developing a bio-based, waterproof coating to make a low-fired product liquid-tight without using chemical glazes.
The first tangible result was the Coffee To-Throw Cup, developed in 2019. For this cup, a natural barrier was created by pressing the unfired clay under high pressure using a custom-designed cup press, and subsequently saturating it with pure, local beeswax.
To further professionalize biological coatings for larger interior applications, Fabrikaat collaborated with university scientists at Wageningen University Research to develop a two-component biocoating based on plant polymers. This coating penetrates deep into the microscopic pores of the dried clay. Instead of a traditional kiln fire, the product then only needs to be thermally cured at just 356°F (180°C). The coating makes the surface fully waterproof, scratch-resistant, and impact-resistant.
Because this coating adheres most consistently to a flat shape, Fabrikaat is currently focusing on a specific tile design. To gain more design freedom, an extensive pigment research project was launched using plant pigments from their own botanical test garden, such as madder for red, woad for blue, and weld for yellow. To bind these pigments, Fabrikaat uses a natural base layer of slaked lime, made from local mussel shells. The platform is also investigating possibilities to directly mix and bind pigments from iron oxides and algae with this biocoating.
Within a European project, a specialized AI company is now helping to optimize this process. Smart AI models predict the exact properties and the reaction of the coating under changing parameters. This replaces the slow trial-and-error process in the laboratory and ensures faster results when scaling up to a market-ready building material.
For the global sector, Fabrikaat’s work is a tremendous source of inspiration. It proves that we can create beautiful, functional products without destroying the raw materials beneath our feet. By relearning how to listen to the material, seeking out cross-sector cross-pollination, and thinking radically outside the traditional confines of the kiln, we keep our clay alive and infinitely circular.
the author Katerien ter Meulen is the artistic and business director of Fabrikaat. Fabrikaat’s work is currently on display at the exhibition “Sustainable Ceramics #2: Investigating a Footprint” at the Keramiekmuseum Princessehof in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, until October 25, 2026. To learn more about Fabrikaat, visit stichtingfabrikaat.nl or follow on Instagram @stichting.fabrikaat.
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