We've seen the future and it's pretty amazing, thanks to an invention by Swedish design studio Tomorrow Machine[1] who has created a way to do away with one of our least favorite household chores -- washing dishes.


The life-changing invention: self-cleaning tableware. It's two-fold benefit: Using the organic compound cellulose (which is mostly used to produce paper) the eliminate the need for washing plates and dishes ever again.


tableware


According to design site Dezeen, where we spotted these housewares[2] of the future, here's how the cleaning mechanism works:


The cellulose pulp is first made into a sheet, which is then heat pressed in a mould. "The material becomes as hard as a regular ceramic product ... The coating is a new technology developed by KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, which mimics the surface of a lotus leaf to create a surface that's resistant to dirt and water ... KTH are using a process called Rapid Expansion of Supercritical Solutions (RESS) to make the surface superhydrophobic ... A wax is dissolved in carbon dioxide at high pressure and temperature, and then sprayed onto the surface to be treated.

tableware


But while the future is near -- you can already make 3D printed food[3] like appliance company Miele predicted earlier this year[4] -- it isn't here just yet. Tomorrow Machine's tableware is still in the prototype phase and the technology used to create it isn't ready for the industry just yet.


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