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.

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 year...