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Positioned upon a weathered timber surface exhibiting rich honey-toned grain patterns and organic striations characteristic of aged hardwood, Chen-Hsiang Chao's Biovessel Composter presents a…
Chen-Hsiang Chao's Biovessel Composter emerges as a thoughtfully orchestrated convergence of organic materiality and functional geometry, presenting a biomorphic form composed of textured cork…
A broad overhead perspective reveals a biomorphic platform rendered in warm cork-grain texture punctuated by an orthogonal grid of small circular perforations, its amorphous contour suggesting…
Rich dark brown compost fills a sculptural white vessel captured from above in zenithal illumination, the composition organized along diagonal vectors that slice the picture plane into dynamic…
Chen-Hsiang Chao's Biovessel Composter occupies a weathered wooden surface, its elliptical ceramic form rendered in matte white porcelain or high-fired stoneware displaying subtle surface undulations…

Bronze Sustainable Product · 2025

Biovessel Composter

by Chen Hsiang Chao

  • Bronze A' Design Award 2025 in Sustainable Product
  • CLIENT: Bionicraft Co., Ltd.
  • Estimated Number of Design Views: 33,835
  • Verification code 1A6972A5A9 · Verify this award
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About Biovessel Composter

Biovessel is an indoor ecosystem composter, inspired by nature and designed to deal with food waste, it brings nature into your urban home and redefines food waste by turning it into nutrients that feed new life. With the help of earthworms, soil and its microorganisms, and water the ecosystem within Biovessel redefines waste, which is otherwise disposed of in bins. The process of breaking down the organic waste is purely powered by nature and creates a self-sustainable ecosystem that achieves odorless, high-efficiency decomposition.

About the Bronze A' Design Award

Biovessel Composter is a Bronze A' Design Award winner, a highly prestigious recognition granted to outstanding designs distinguished by creativity, ingenuity, and astuteness. Bronze winners are amply skillful and strikingly creative artifacts that authenticate the vast experience, imagination, and resourcefulness of their designers. Biovessel Composter is expected to be a highly regarded, admired, and cherished object that is notably professional and innovative. This Bronze A' Design Award-winning design incorporates best practices in art, science, design, and technology, and is excellent for its attention to detail. Biovessel Composter splendidly satisfies needs, touches desires, charms feelings, and appeals to curiosity.

Press Kit

Unique Properties
Biovessel is an indoor ecosystem/composter inspired by nature and designed to deal with food waste, it brings nature into your urban home and redefines food waste by turning it into nutrients that feed new life.
With the help of earthworms, soil and its microorganisms, and water the ecosystem within Biovessel redefines waste, which is otherwise disposed of in bins. The process of breaking down the organic waste is purely powered by nature and creates a self-sustainable ecosystem that achieves odourless, high-efficiency decomposition.
Dimensions & Packaging
Width 450mm x Depth 225mm x Height 165mm
Tags
foodwaste, upcycle, bionic, nature, rewild
Production Technology
The form of Biovessel has not been deliberately designed for aesthetic appeal, neither is it another machine created to deal with the waste that humans have created, instead, we let nature decide. Biovessel has been created from the data collected and compiled from 20+ months of biological research, experiments, and observation on the process of food waste decomposition.
The information documented from these observations and experiments was then translated into quantitative data. By putting the data into a specially developed algorithm, Biovessel was born based on parametrics, ergonomics, etc.
Design Challenge
Transforming experimental data and overcoming the challenges of mass production are crucial aspects of this project. We spent a considerable amount of time converting virtual data into physical design forms using algorithms. Subsequently, we further refined these forms to suit mass production requirements. The form of the vessel is produced through blow moulding technology, and controlling its variables to achieve high production yield poses significant challenges.
Research
Biovessel has been created from the data collected and compiled from 20+ months of biological research, experiments, and observation on the process of food waste decomposition.
The ventilation holes on the top caps imitate the patterns of sunflower seed spirals, using the golden ratio and air permeability as parameters, we achieve the most optimal state for the internal environment.
The most suitable position and density for the openings on the cork wood lid are determined by the analysis of aerodynamic parameters.
Data from parameters such as experiments, biological behaviour, and other factors from the manufacturing process are integrated to create the form of the vessel. The end result of Biovessel is a form that fits the biological decomposition process and efficiency within the vessel to the largest extent.
Being defined and designed by nature, the ecosystem that Biovessel creates is most suitable for its inhabitants and is one that is most effective and convenient for its users.
Inspiration
According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, roughly one-third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year gets lost or wasted and ends up rotting in landfills, needlessly producing greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to global warming and climate change. Biovessel is a solution that can be managed in urban homes and creates a self-sustainable ecosystem that reverses the vicious food waste cycle.
Project Duration
The project started in January 2016 and finished in October 2016 in Taipei.
Operation Flow
1. Place approximately 3000g of sawdust soil mix, containing 500g of composting worms into Biovessel. Spray the surface with water to moisten the environment and check for moisture(3-5), light(100-300), and pH level(7-8) through Observation Hole.
2. Put chopped bits from food ingredients into a waste container and empty containers into the Food Waste Inlet Hole. Do not exceed container capacity each time. Put top caps back on Biovessel and wait for the ecosystem to work its magic.
3. Spray the surface with water to moisten the environment through the Outlet Hole and check for moisture(3-5), light(100-300), and pH level(7-8) through the Observation Hole.
4. Harvest an adequate amount of fertilizer from the surface layer of the Outlet Hole. Feed your plants.
Patents
Patented: Biovessel - Device for converting kitchen waste to organic fertilizer
Patent No: TW 105208269
Patent Holder: Chen-Hsiang Chao
Year: 2017
Jurisdiction: Taiwan Intellectual Property Office
Image Credits
Copyrights belong to Bionicraft Co., Ltd

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