In The Marmalade Pantry’s Ion store, a shimmery material wraps some of the walls and forms scalloped pendant lights. Few would guess that its speckles come from orange peels, or that avocado skins give it its orange-red hue. Interior design studio Laank wanted a “jammy, translucent, and marmalade-like” material for the restaurant’s redesign, and asked circular design studio Wastd to create something fitting.
Wastd founder Liu Tingzhi developed Skins, a biotextile, with material scientist Esther Lin, who now runs material science company Terramura. Liu led the material’s design and application in the restaurant, while Lin provided the technical research. It is one of several experiments Liu has worked on with recyclers, material scientists and fabrication partners to turn waste into materials for real-world use.
Broken glass, discarded textiles, oyster shells and lemongrass stalks – Liu has worked with them all. For the launch exhibition of The Balvenie Fifty Collection Second Edition at Somma in 2025, she used barley husks to create a sculptural frame for a whisky bottle. The husks are typically discarded after the grain is extracted. “It became both installation and narrative, physically holding the story of the whisky within the material itself,” she said.
The shimmery wall material at The Marmalade Pantry’s Ion store is Wastd’s Skins biotextile, developed with orange peels and avocado skins. (Photo: Wastd)
Liu’s fascination with waste began when she saw the volume of textile offcuts discarded by the fashion industry. She studied textile and material science in fashion at Central Saint Martins in London, before stints at Dior, Celine and Alexander McQueen. After returning to Singapore, Liu led product assortment strategy, design, materials and production at local fashion brand Love, Bonito.
Three years before starting Wastd in 2024, she had already been “tinkering with waste, exploring upcycling, and [figuring out] what it means to work with better materials”. “I won’t say I’m the only one working in this space, but I do think what sets Wastd apart is our unapologetic focus on aesthetics, soul, and storytelling,” Liu said.
Liu works out of a home-based studio filled with material samples, prototypes and objects that explore how waste-based materials can be used. “The process of turning waste into objects always starts with the raw ingredient – the waste itself,” she explained. One example is a board made with recycled fabrics, which launched at the end of March 2026. “The process is a little like baking,” Liu continued.
Working with a recycling partner, Wastd shreds textile waste, combines it with a heat-activated binder, then compresses it with heat and pressure into a solid, durable board. “Once we understand the technical limitations, that’s when the design eye comes in to blend recycling possibilities with aesthetic outcomes like colours, shredding ratios, et cetera,” Liu said.
For the launch exhibition of The Balvenie Fifty Collection Second Edition, Liu Tingzhi used barley husks to create five swirling forms representing five decades of the whisky brand’s development. (Photo: Wastd)
Like stone or wood, the boards can be cut, finished and fabricated into objects, making their possible applications wide-ranging. Their colour variation also makes them well suited for interior surfaces. They have been used for tabletops at Roberta’s Pizza at Mandai and walls in Castlery’s sustainability-focused corner at Liat Towers.
Each project is time-consuming, involving “iterative back-and-forth sampling, testing, and refining until we find something that’s not just functional, but also visually striking,” Liu said. The final outcome depends on the object’s intended use. “Is it a table? A lamp? A surface? From here it becomes a balancing act. For example, if the end product is a tabletop, it needs to be durable and heat-resistant. But if it’s a lamp, we can push for more translucency and sculptural qualities,” she explained.
Her team is lean: Liu remains Wastd’s sole designer and works with production partners, freelancers and project managers depending on the project. Smaller objects and bespoke orders are made in-house, but for larger projects or those requiring specialised expertise, she turns to partners such as Semula for plastic recycling, Blio for glass waste recycling and Terramura for biotextiles.
At Birds of Paradise Mandai, the warm, garden-facing interiors feature tabletops made with botanical waste, including cucumber peels, lemongrass stems and chrysanthemum petals from the gelato boutique. (Photo: Birds of Paradise)
These collaborations with experts from other fields are opportunities to break down silos, Liu said. She noted that scientists, engineers, designers and material makers often do important work in parallel, but not together. “The real magic happens when these disciplines start to intersect, such as when a biologist teams up with a furniture designer. That’s when new possibilities open up not just for better design, but also for more meaningful, scalable change.”
Liu had always been creative, so the path felt natural. “I told myself that if I could get into Central Saint Martins – one of the most competitive schools for fashion and design – that would be my sign,” she said. After achieving that goal, “everything clicked into place”. “The clarity of doing something I loved and was good at became an engine, and I found myself naturally drawn to working with people, building ideas, and getting things off the ground. That creative momentum has been fuelling me since.”
Attending Central Saint Martins felt like “swimming through water – easy, natural, and even joyful”, compared with “swimming through peanut butter” as she navigated Singapore’s structured academic system. Wastd reflects that creative energy and has gained momentum since its launch in 2024.
One of its most ambitious projects is Bildable by Wastd, an online platform and design tool that lets anyone – from interior designers to homemakers – try creating a material from waste. “Even designers or brands that don't have waste to upcycle or aren’t ready to take on a full, closed-loop project can still access distinct, sustainable materials independently,” Liu said.
Realising that many circular ideas fail to take off because people are unsure how to use the resulting materials, Liu began developing a collection of in-house products to spark ideas. These include the Do-All Serving Platter, made with Galaxsea, a recycled-plastic material, and the Egg Vase, which incorporates glass waste. Wastd also plans to launch the Hero Furniture range later this year.
Wastd’s Do-All Serving Platter is made with Galaxsea, a material that incorporates recycled plastic. (Photo: Wastd)
“We take one overlooked waste type, pair it with a design inspiration, and transform it into a completely new object,” Liu explained. “The idea is to challenge us creatively while making the invisible visible. We want to help people see waste not as something to discard, but as a starting point.”
Education is part of the idea, with each object accompanied by commentary on Wastd’s social media. One post, for instance, notes that about 130 million tons of glass are produced each year, that recycling can save 385,000 tons of CO2, and that glass sent to landfill can take up to a million years to degrade – a reminder of why Liu’s work matters.
At the revamped Tanjong Beach Club, Wastd’s Funfetti material turns discarded textiles into sand-inspired bill trays, reservation tags and menu boards. (Photo: Wastd)
Starting and growing Wastd came with challenges. “Strong support is not enough. While purpose absolutely matters, it needs to be paired with a clear offering, a defined customer, and a viable pricing structure in order to scale sustainably,” Liu said. She added that practical, ground-level support in areas such as commercial strategy, pricing, contracts and marketing is not always available, as it is often overshadowed by “frameworks, reporting, or metrics that are more relevant to large corporations.”
Clients can help by recognising that true innovation requires some openness to risk. “Many organisers say they want true innovation or uniqueness, but hesitate to be early adopters. By definition, meaningful innovation hasn’t been fully tested yet, and the greatest impact often comes from being willing to move first,” Liu said. “Creating more room for experimentation, pilots, and learning partnerships would go a long way in supporting studios working on the edge of new materials and systems.”
Liu does not see these “errors” as failures. Rather, she sees them as a vital part of the process. At the end of 2025, she started Not a Waste, an awards series created in collaboration with like-minded brands such as multidisciplinary movement studio Beam and natural remedies brand Moom. The trophies were made from materials left over from the year’s experiments and projects.
“At the end of the year, brands often focus on highlight reels and polished successes. With Not a Waste, we wanted to celebrate the quieter moments, such as the learning, the experiments, and the efforts that don't always get recognised, but are often where the most meaningful progress happens,” Liu said.
Liu Tingzhi founded Wastd in 2024 after seeing the scale of textile waste in fashion. Her studio turns waste into functional, design-led materials. (Photo: CNA/Kelvin Chia)
Liu is a doer, turning purpose and ideas quickly into action. She said studying and working abroad helped shape this mindset. “Art school was incredibly fluid and opinion driven; you’re constantly pushed to articulate your point of view, and the more distinct, niche, and personal that point of view is, the stronger you become as an individual,” she commented.
There, Liu found that a person’s environment could be as formative as their discipline. “Your work is shaped by everything around it, such as your taste in music, the people you surround yourself with, your values, political views, food, and how you choose to live. All of that informs how you design,” she said. Being abroad also helped her develop a mindset of “collaboration over competition”. She now views others in similar fields as “part of a larger, shared mission”.
“That perspective has helped me approach the industry with less fear and more openness, and to take on projects and partnerships that sometimes punch beyond our maturity as a studio,” Liu said. Wastd may be small, but it is nimble and able to “move quickly, adapt, and experiment, which is often what larger organisations struggle to do”.
For women’s wellness clinic Prologue, Wastd worked with Paper Plane Architects to create a counter made with broken glass. (Photo: Wastd)
Wastd has worked with many F&B brands and companies, but Liu believes other industries can benefit from the studio’s work too. “Fashion retail is a natural extension; for example, transforming a brand’s own dead-stock textiles into its retail interiors. Hospitality is another area we’re excited about, such as working with hotels to repurpose retired linens into new spatial elements. These cross-industry loops are where material innovation becomes especially meaningful,” she said.
In the longer term, Liu wants to evolve Wastd into “a complete ecosystem for building”. She dreams of opening a showroom that showcases materials, ideas and objects, while offering visitors “glimpses into the future of living”. “Ultimately, we hope Wastd becomes a place people turn to when they believe the world can be built better – with less extraction, more imagination, and deeper consideration for how materials shape the way we live,” Liu said.
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Wastd founder Liu Tingzhi developed Skins, a biotextile, with material scientist Esther Lin, who now runs material science company Terramura. Liu led the material’s design and application in the restaurant, while Lin provided the technical research. It is one of several experiments Liu has worked on with recyclers, material scientists and fabrication partners to turn waste into materials for real-world use.
Broken glass, discarded textiles, oyster shells and lemongrass stalks – Liu has worked with them all. For the launch exhibition of The Balvenie Fifty Collection Second Edition at Somma in 2025, she used barley husks to create a sculptural frame for a whisky bottle. The husks are typically discarded after the grain is extracted. “It became both installation and narrative, physically holding the story of the whisky within the material itself,” she said.
The shimmery wall material at The Marmalade Pantry’s Ion store is Wastd’s Skins biotextile, developed with orange peels and avocado skins. (Photo: Wastd)
Liu’s fascination with waste began when she saw the volume of textile offcuts discarded by the fashion industry. She studied textile and material science in fashion at Central Saint Martins in London, before stints at Dior, Celine and Alexander McQueen. After returning to Singapore, Liu led product assortment strategy, design, materials and production at local fashion brand Love, Bonito.
Three years before starting Wastd in 2024, she had already been “tinkering with waste, exploring upcycling, and [figuring out] what it means to work with better materials”. “I won’t say I’m the only one working in this space, but I do think what sets Wastd apart is our unapologetic focus on aesthetics, soul, and storytelling,” Liu said.
EXPLORING WASTE
Liu works out of a home-based studio filled with material samples, prototypes and objects that explore how waste-based materials can be used. “The process of turning waste into objects always starts with the raw ingredient – the waste itself,” she explained. One example is a board made with recycled fabrics, which launched at the end of March 2026. “The process is a little like baking,” Liu continued.
Working with a recycling partner, Wastd shreds textile waste, combines it with a heat-activated binder, then compresses it with heat and pressure into a solid, durable board. “Once we understand the technical limitations, that’s when the design eye comes in to blend recycling possibilities with aesthetic outcomes like colours, shredding ratios, et cetera,” Liu said.
For the launch exhibition of The Balvenie Fifty Collection Second Edition, Liu Tingzhi used barley husks to create five swirling forms representing five decades of the whisky brand’s development. (Photo: Wastd)
Like stone or wood, the boards can be cut, finished and fabricated into objects, making their possible applications wide-ranging. Their colour variation also makes them well suited for interior surfaces. They have been used for tabletops at Roberta’s Pizza at Mandai and walls in Castlery’s sustainability-focused corner at Liat Towers.
Each project is time-consuming, involving “iterative back-and-forth sampling, testing, and refining until we find something that’s not just functional, but also visually striking,” Liu said. The final outcome depends on the object’s intended use. “Is it a table? A lamp? A surface? From here it becomes a balancing act. For example, if the end product is a tabletop, it needs to be durable and heat-resistant. But if it’s a lamp, we can push for more translucency and sculptural qualities,” she explained.
Her team is lean: Liu remains Wastd’s sole designer and works with production partners, freelancers and project managers depending on the project. Smaller objects and bespoke orders are made in-house, but for larger projects or those requiring specialised expertise, she turns to partners such as Semula for plastic recycling, Blio for glass waste recycling and Terramura for biotextiles.
At Birds of Paradise Mandai, the warm, garden-facing interiors feature tabletops made with botanical waste, including cucumber peels, lemongrass stems and chrysanthemum petals from the gelato boutique. (Photo: Birds of Paradise)
These collaborations with experts from other fields are opportunities to break down silos, Liu said. She noted that scientists, engineers, designers and material makers often do important work in parallel, but not together. “The real magic happens when these disciplines start to intersect, such as when a biologist teams up with a furniture designer. That’s when new possibilities open up not just for better design, but also for more meaningful, scalable change.”
FINDING HER PATH
Liu had always been creative, so the path felt natural. “I told myself that if I could get into Central Saint Martins – one of the most competitive schools for fashion and design – that would be my sign,” she said. After achieving that goal, “everything clicked into place”. “The clarity of doing something I loved and was good at became an engine, and I found myself naturally drawn to working with people, building ideas, and getting things off the ground. That creative momentum has been fuelling me since.”
Attending Central Saint Martins felt like “swimming through water – easy, natural, and even joyful”, compared with “swimming through peanut butter” as she navigated Singapore’s structured academic system. Wastd reflects that creative energy and has gained momentum since its launch in 2024.
One of its most ambitious projects is Bildable by Wastd, an online platform and design tool that lets anyone – from interior designers to homemakers – try creating a material from waste. “Even designers or brands that don't have waste to upcycle or aren’t ready to take on a full, closed-loop project can still access distinct, sustainable materials independently,” Liu said.
Realising that many circular ideas fail to take off because people are unsure how to use the resulting materials, Liu began developing a collection of in-house products to spark ideas. These include the Do-All Serving Platter, made with Galaxsea, a recycled-plastic material, and the Egg Vase, which incorporates glass waste. Wastd also plans to launch the Hero Furniture range later this year.
Wastd’s Do-All Serving Platter is made with Galaxsea, a material that incorporates recycled plastic. (Photo: Wastd)
“We take one overlooked waste type, pair it with a design inspiration, and transform it into a completely new object,” Liu explained. “The idea is to challenge us creatively while making the invisible visible. We want to help people see waste not as something to discard, but as a starting point.”
Education is part of the idea, with each object accompanied by commentary on Wastd’s social media. One post, for instance, notes that about 130 million tons of glass are produced each year, that recycling can save 385,000 tons of CO2, and that glass sent to landfill can take up to a million years to degrade – a reminder of why Liu’s work matters.
BEAUTY AND FUNCTION
At the revamped Tanjong Beach Club, Wastd’s Funfetti material turns discarded textiles into sand-inspired bill trays, reservation tags and menu boards. (Photo: Wastd)
Starting and growing Wastd came with challenges. “Strong support is not enough. While purpose absolutely matters, it needs to be paired with a clear offering, a defined customer, and a viable pricing structure in order to scale sustainably,” Liu said. She added that practical, ground-level support in areas such as commercial strategy, pricing, contracts and marketing is not always available, as it is often overshadowed by “frameworks, reporting, or metrics that are more relevant to large corporations.”
Clients can help by recognising that true innovation requires some openness to risk. “Many organisers say they want true innovation or uniqueness, but hesitate to be early adopters. By definition, meaningful innovation hasn’t been fully tested yet, and the greatest impact often comes from being willing to move first,” Liu said. “Creating more room for experimentation, pilots, and learning partnerships would go a long way in supporting studios working on the edge of new materials and systems.”
Liu does not see these “errors” as failures. Rather, she sees them as a vital part of the process. At the end of 2025, she started Not a Waste, an awards series created in collaboration with like-minded brands such as multidisciplinary movement studio Beam and natural remedies brand Moom. The trophies were made from materials left over from the year’s experiments and projects.
“At the end of the year, brands often focus on highlight reels and polished successes. With Not a Waste, we wanted to celebrate the quieter moments, such as the learning, the experiments, and the efforts that don't always get recognised, but are often where the most meaningful progress happens,” Liu said.
Liu Tingzhi founded Wastd in 2024 after seeing the scale of textile waste in fashion. Her studio turns waste into functional, design-led materials. (Photo: CNA/Kelvin Chia)
FUTURE PLANS AND NEEDS
Liu is a doer, turning purpose and ideas quickly into action. She said studying and working abroad helped shape this mindset. “Art school was incredibly fluid and opinion driven; you’re constantly pushed to articulate your point of view, and the more distinct, niche, and personal that point of view is, the stronger you become as an individual,” she commented.
There, Liu found that a person’s environment could be as formative as their discipline. “Your work is shaped by everything around it, such as your taste in music, the people you surround yourself with, your values, political views, food, and how you choose to live. All of that informs how you design,” she said. Being abroad also helped her develop a mindset of “collaboration over competition”. She now views others in similar fields as “part of a larger, shared mission”.
“That perspective has helped me approach the industry with less fear and more openness, and to take on projects and partnerships that sometimes punch beyond our maturity as a studio,” Liu said. Wastd may be small, but it is nimble and able to “move quickly, adapt, and experiment, which is often what larger organisations struggle to do”.
For women’s wellness clinic Prologue, Wastd worked with Paper Plane Architects to create a counter made with broken glass. (Photo: Wastd)
Wastd has worked with many F&B brands and companies, but Liu believes other industries can benefit from the studio’s work too. “Fashion retail is a natural extension; for example, transforming a brand’s own dead-stock textiles into its retail interiors. Hospitality is another area we’re excited about, such as working with hotels to repurpose retired linens into new spatial elements. These cross-industry loops are where material innovation becomes especially meaningful,” she said.
In the longer term, Liu wants to evolve Wastd into “a complete ecosystem for building”. She dreams of opening a showroom that showcases materials, ideas and objects, while offering visitors “glimpses into the future of living”. “Ultimately, we hope Wastd becomes a place people turn to when they believe the world can be built better – with less extraction, more imagination, and deeper consideration for how materials shape the way we live,” Liu said.
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