Nomination
Due to livestock farming and industrial food production, the prices for animal products have decreased enormously in the recent past. While just some decades ago farm animals were highly valued and most of their resources were further processed, in present times only the tastiest and easiest to prepare parts of an animal are actually used. Today more than half of an animal goes directly to animal rendering plants after slaughter and thus more or less instantly to the garbage can.
Since we never get in contact with the slaughter process, we started to be disgusted by the „by-products“ of animals. But are they really nothing more than waste? Is our rejective attitude towards these materials justified and legitimate? Or shouldn’t we, if we really need to kill animals, at least appreciate all of their resources instead?
These questions led to the INNER VALUES project—seating furniture made of tanned and further processed cattle intestines and pigs’ bladders, transformed into soft leather. The chairs boost the former poor reputation of the supposed waste products and infuse it with opposite values. They reveal the true value and unique beauty of these materials.
Credits
Design, concept: Tobias Trübenbacher
Video, pictures: Tobias Trübenbacher, Nikolai Marcinowski
Tobias Trübenbacher (DE) is a Berlin-based product designer. After graduating from school, Tobias started studying product design at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich, followed by an internship at Atelier Steffen Kehrle studio. Later Tobias moved to Berlin to continue his studies at the University of the Arts, where he is currently working in the Design and Social Context department of Prof. Ineke Hans. Besides studying, Tobias is presently working for Studio Mark Braun. For three years he has held the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes scholarship.