BK Show Features A Pen Made From Sewage, Other Student Projects

CLINTON HILL, BROOKLYN — A pen made out of sewage might seem like a gross idea to some people, but that's part of the point, Pratt Institute graduate student Garrett Benisch said.

Benisch's pen invention Sum Waste, which has a body and ink made out of biosolids, all started when he was inspired by a company in California that challenges the idea of what we find disgusting by making items out of those materials that are in plain sight and everyday use.

The pen, Benisch said, is more sustainable than, say, the 1 billion traditionally plastic pens made by BIC every year in more ways than one. But, the idea to create a pen out of sewage goes even beyond the environmental benefits of the pen itself.

"We're so comfortable with pens (even though) they seem so invasive," Benisch said, noting that it isn't unusual to put a pen in your mouth or to your face despite where it has been. "If you can get someone to be comfortable with a pen made out of something like biosolids then it's sort of a gateway into getting people comfortable with that material."

Benisch's pen was one of several innovative inventions featured in Pratt Insitute's annual student design show at its Clinton Hill campus over the weekend.

Each project, set up with demonstrations during the day-long design fair, showed how the university's students are tackling everything from sustainability, to inclusivity in social spaces to healthcare, organizers said.

Both Benisch and another student featured in the show, Alina Liu, said that is because the projects are meant to be designed not just to be presented in the classroom, but for the real world.

"You are always designing for people and how people interact with your product," Liu, who made an adjustable water fountain, said. "That makes it an actual thing people can use."

The water fountain Liu designed stemmed from observing water fountains in Washington Square Park. She watched as the fountains, set up low to the ground with a protruding basin, forced people of all different sizes to bend down, stretch up or move awkwardly to try and reach the spout.

Liu, a senior at Pratt, said she discovered the fountains were designed that way to make them accessible for those with disabilities, but she began to wonder if there was a better way.

She began designing a telescopic-shaped water fountain out of clay, and eventually a 3D printer, that can start low down but be pulled up and adjusted to reach any height that made sense for the user.

(Gui Mu) The Woori water fountain designed by Alina Liu.

Like Liu, Benisch said his pens are meant to extend beyond the classroom. He plans to take the design as far as he can go as a way of proving that sustainable business plans with industrial designs are possible, he said.

The parts of the pen made with the biosolids were created by feeding the organic biosolids to bacteria that produce a natural polyester, which means the end result is somewhere between completely biodegradable and "industrially compostable," meaning it requires a special facility to break it down.

But the material isn't the only thing that makes the pen sustainable, Benisch said.

The Sum Waste pen uses a more simplistic design than the more traditional pens, making it so that people are more likely to keep it for a longer time. By making a pen with only two parts and no complicated mechanisms, Benisch said, people can refill the ink and keep one pen for longer.

"It takes (waste) out of the back end too," he said. "It takes up manufacturing to produce every part of those components."

(Provided by Garrett Benisch.)

The Pratt design show began last Wednesday at the school's ARC Building on its Brooklyn Campus on Willoughby Avenue and will run until Tuesday, May 21.