Yworkshop

Frit is the trade term used to describe recycled glass once it has been ground down into a fine sand. Generally ‘Frit’ is seen as a midway stage in a longer manufacturing process and is normally supplied as a raw material for making tiles or even recycled glass bottles. However, Frit has an aesthetic all of its own and can be used in a variety of ways which don’t involve melting or pressing.

TriVitro in Seattle makes specially sized and colored chips of recycled glass for use in terrazzo flooring, tiles, counter tops, concrete pavers, wall finishes and exposed aggregate surfaces. Available in a variety of colors and sizes, frit is excellent for any project seeking to maximize green building practices and LEED criteria.

Andy Ouderkirk and fellow 3M scientist Mike Weber were zapping polymers with powerful lasers as part of a materials science experiment when Ouderkirk realized he could bind together hundreds of sheets of polymer film to create a highly reflective material. The resulting plastic mirror is much cheaper to produce than the traditional vacuum-coated glass variety. And it reflects light waves from across the spectrum: because the film doesn’t absorb infrared, it can be used as an invisible window coating, screening out solar rays without blocking any visible light and radio waves, as metallic screens do.

“There’s an incredible breadth of apps,” says Ouderkirk. “We’re having a good time exploring.”

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