Remember that feeling when the school science fair let you make a volcano and everyone crowded round? That was us in Opatija from 16 - 18 May 2025 at UNWASTED - only the papier-mâché was replaced by Beer Skin™ trench-coats, round-tables, hands-on workshops and a runaway runway. The forum pulled diplomats, nuclear-energy nerds, ghost-net fishers and circular-economy geeks into one Adriatic room and said: solve stuff together. And they did.
Why we showed up (besides the seaside espresso)
Beer & gin by-products deserve a second life.
UNWASTED promised action, not PowerPoints.
Three days of cross-sector speed-dating = material R&D heaven.
Our material mic-drop
Krie Design debuted a capsule built with Sabant Beer Skin™ - the world’s first plant-based leather from spent barley malt - and teased the full drop for the forum’s finale.
Hands-on, literally
Workshops let visitors poke, bend and selfie-test Beer Skin™ swatches while we spilled the (craft) beer science behind them. The official programme lists “hands-on workshops & demonstrations,” and yes, that included ours.
Three take-homes we love
Collaboration beats silos. Nuclear policy folks high-fived fashion designers because circularity cares zero about dress codes.
Storytelling sells science. Charles Oppenheimer - yes, the grandson - said we “achieved the impossible” by mixing fashion with fission talk. We’ll take that.
Materials matter. From 75 t of ghost-nets to up-cycled windshields and, sure, brewer’s barley, every showcase proved waste is just pre-material with commitment issues.
What’s next?
We left Opatija with new lab buddies, prototype requests, and a calendar reminder for UNWASTED 2026. Meanwhile, Beer Skin™ keeps brewing (gin cousins are jealous).
.png&w=3840&q=75)
