Italian artist Davide Balda has partnered with biomaterials company Chroma Composites to launch a project called Chromaterico, which turns textile waste from deadstock and defective garments into a stone-like material called Textilite, and uses it to create a furniture series, "Gli Straccivendoli" — Chromaterico Textile Objects. The series was exhibited at Milan Design Week 2026 and Isola Design Festival.

Key Points

  • Textilite is made from synthetic and organic textile waste, mechanically ground into fibers and then compounded through Chroma's Mersus® process.
  • The material is lightweight, durable, impact-resistant and scratch-resistant, suitable for outdoor furniture, indoor floor tiles and home furnishings.
  • The series includes three pieces: the bench "Sfrido", the shelving unit "Cencio" and the table "Brandello".

Headquartered in Ceppaloni, Italy, Chroma Composites is a biomaterials producer that transforms waste into high-quality composites for design and architecture. Textilite's development path stems from Balda's Archeomaterico project, which focuses on building circular production processes and developing sustainable materials from waste.

In terms of the specific process, unsold and defective garments are first mechanically ground into fibers, then mixed into the Textilite composite stone via Chroma's Mersus® process. Each piece of furniture in the series demonstrates a different approach to processing textile fibers under the Mersus process, resulting in distinct product characteristics and appearances to suit diverse application scenarios.

Balda is a multidisciplinary artist from Genoa, Italy. This collaboration combines textile waste recycling with composite stone manufacturing, offering a practical path for materializing old clothing waste for furniture, floor tiles and architectural finishes.

Source: Textile waste fibers make 'stone' · Originally published on 2026-10-01