![The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_The-Fish-Feast-by-Erik-de-Laurens_01.jpg)
The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens
Show RCA 2011: Royal College of Art graduate Erik de Laurens has made a pair of swimming goggles, spectacles and beakers out of fish scales.
![The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_The-Fish-Feast-by-Erik-de-Laurens_06.jpg)
De Laurens invented a plastic material made only from fish scales, treated under heat and pressure with no extra binding agents.
![The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_The-Fish-Feast-by-Erik-de-Laurens_07.jpg)
Coloured objects can be made by dying the scales first.
![The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_The-Fish-Feast-by-Erik-de-Laurens_03.jpg)
He presented the goggles alongside beakers, spectacle frames and a table inlaid with slices of the material, plus a water dispenser made of fish leather.
![The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_The-Fish-Feast-by-Erik-de-Laurens_05.jpg)
Called The Fish Feast, the project was inspired by the huge number of scales that the fishing industry discards.
![The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_The-Fish-Feast-by-Erik-de-Laurens_04.jpg)
See more work by this year's Royal College graduates here.
Here's some more information from Erik de Laurens:
The fish feast
The fish feast started when I was asked to design objects for the canteen of a primary school of Macassar, a township of Cape Town.
![The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_The-Fish-Feast-by-Erik-de-Laurens_08.jpg)
When I was a kid the sea was for me a very important source of joy and daydream which surely led me to design.
![The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_The-Fish-Feast-by-Erik-de-Laurens_09.jpg)
I decided to create a monthly event in which the pupils of one class would be brought to a fishing day on the nearby beach.
![The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_The-Fish-Feast-by-Erik-de-Laurens_17.jpg)
Then they would go back to school with the fish they have caught and prepare the traditional cape kedgeree.
![The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_The-Fish-Feast-by-Erik-de-Laurens_18.jpg)
To accompany this feast he designed a range of object related to fish.
![The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_The-Fish-Feast-by-Erik-de-Laurens_11.jpg)
A water dispenser made with fish leather. Tumblers realised with the fish scales and a table cloth which has a pattern that explain how to build your own boat.
![The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_The-Fish-Feast-by-Erik-de-Laurens_12.jpg)
In continuation of ‘the fish feast’ I created a surprising material made of 100% fish scales (no added compound).
![The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_The-Fish-Feast-by-Erik-de-Laurens_14.jpg)
The fishing industry generates several circumstances where many tonsof fish scales are leftover.
![The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_The-Fish-Feast-by-Erik-de-Laurens_15.jpg)
Using this waste as resources for the production of fish-scale-plastic, I tried to highlight the potentiality of these industrial flaw.
![The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_The-Fish-Feast-by-Erik-de-Laurens_16.jpg)
In order to test the material I have designed 3 pairs of goggles and glasses inspired by swimming goggles and a table with an inlay of a fish. I have also extended the range of colours in the tumbler previously designed.
![The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens The Fish Feast by Erik de Laurens](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_The-Fish-Feast-by-Erik-de-Laurens_10.jpg)
I am currently looking for funding to push the development of this material further.