UDIT

Feel the Peel: Sombra y Brisa

finalist project

Aarón Truzman, Marta Poy, Diego RodrígueZ, Carmen CarranzA, Pablo Pesqueira, Javier Villasevil

Feel the Peel is a circular design initiative transforming Seville’s abundant citrus waste into biodegradable materials. Each year, over 7 million kilos of bitter oranges fall unused, causing environmental and logistical issues. The team created BioPeel, a compostable biopolymer from orange peels, and designed Sombra y Brisa, handheld fans inspired by traditional Spanish styles. These fans tackle single-use plastic waste and heat at outdoor events. Practical and symbolic, the project offers a scalable solution for products like cups and utensils, connecting local identity and climate action with global potential for sustainable material innovation.

Sofía Martín Franco is a product designer and academic coordinator of the Product Design program at UDIT (University of Design, Innovation and Technology) in Madrid. Her work explores the intersection of material innovation and digital fabrication, with a special interest in emerging technologies such as additive manufacturing and sustainable design practices. As a mentor, she is closely involved with student projects that seek to address real-world challenges through creativity, experimentation, and critical thinking. During her undergraduate years, she collaborated with Smartincircles on a 3D-printed biomaterial structure using mussel shells, reinforcing her commitment to design that connects the technical, the human, and the ecological.

Sandra Martín Simón is an architect, pharmacist, and Schmidt-MacArthur Fellow (2016) in Circular Economy, with 20+ years of broad and diverse experience in design and innovation—and a passionate focus on circularity and biodesign over the past decade. Her practice moves across scales, from biomaterials and bioproducts to interiors, installations, and circular strategies for cities, always aiming to reconnect human and ecological systems. She has also curated and designed cultural and educational experiences, including exhibitions, events, and learning programs, and has collaborated with cultural institutions like the Guggenheim Museum and biotech startups such as Biohm. She teaches at UDIT as lead instructor for the Biodesign Challenge and is the founder of Smartincircles, a research and biodesign platform with a biolab focused on co-design and self-production of biomaterials and bioproducts from local resources. Sandra’s independent research explores living materials, circular design, culture and systems thinking, with a particular focus on cultivating regenerative, inclusive, and healthy interiors.