Person attributes
Tom van Soest is the creative director at StoneCycling® in Amsterdam, which creates new building materials from demolition and construction waste. As a student at Design Academy Eindhoven, Van Soest researched what happens to demolition and construction waste—the biggest waste stream in the Netherlands and most European countries. He conceived the idea to turn this waste into new materials that are durable and visually appealing. While at Design Academy, he began experimenting with a homemade industrial blender, raw demolition materials he sourced from vacant buildings, and a ceramic process. The result was his graduation project, an upcycled building material that became the concept for his future company.
In 2013, he founded StoneCycling®, along with longtime friend Ward Massa. The company pioneered the design and engineering of building upcycled brick-like materials called WasteBasedBricks®. They are made from 60% recycled material, and calculations show a 25% energy savings in production over traditional bricks. WasteBasedBricks® have been used in fifteen countries (as of June 2020) in projects ranging from office, restaurant, and bar interiors to outdoor facades and landscaping. The company’s mission is “Moving towards beautiful building materials made from 100% upcycled waste with a positive carbon impact on the planet.”
In 2016, Tom van Soest won the Dutch Designer Awards (DDA) Young Designer Award, an award determined by an international jury.
