A shop dedicated entirely to sustainability and environmentalism, Idea Hat is a design gallery and exhibition space where people can discover planet friendly products made from food waste.

The Ramsey shop opened in January this year and encompasses three different elements, including purchasable wildlife limited edition photography and a world wildlife film that is showcased every week.

Working with company Krill Design, based in Milan, the shop sells desk lamps and smartphone holders made entirely from orange and lemon peel, as well as used coffee grains.

Director and host Chris Swingler says ‘sustainable living’ encapsulates what he’s trying to do with his shop ‘perfectly’.

He said: ‘This is something that I’ve been interested in for a long time.

‘I had the opportunity about two years ago to work with a friend in Paris who is a wildlife photographer, so that opportunity sort of kick started the idea to open a gallery.

‘I’ve known the founder of Krill Design for seven years. Four years ago he founded Krill, I kept in touch with him. It seemed like a good thing to try.

‘Having partnered with Krill Design a year ago, I’ve learned a lot more along the road than I knew when I first started.

‘The need to do things with the natural resources that we’ve got and that we’ve been throwing away, the amount of food waste in the world is just colossal.

‘So if we can start to build products with food waste, Krill have done the research, they’ve got three polymers so far, it just makes sense.

‘We should also be getting the world away from plastic, I’ve read that if we don’t try and curb it, the amount of plastic produced in the world is going to go up and the amount of CO2 that creates goes up as well.

‘Even if we reduce other carbon sources, the percentage that plastic creation contributes to that will become a higher percentage, so it’s really not just a good thing in terms of circularity, it’s a good thing in terms of CO2 as well.’

Chris, who lives in Ramsey, explained the background of his partner Krill Design.

‘I’m working with people who are not just leaders, they’re trailblazers in this, they’ve won heaps of awards,’ he said.

‘They’ve just won the award last week for best Italian company in the circular economy in the PMI manufacturing category but this is not just the first one, this is one of many.

‘An Italian company called Autogrill, runs service stations on the Italian motorway network, customers fill up with petrol and enjoy espresso in the coffee shop.

‘But there’s also a huge demand for freshly squeezed orange juice in the service stations and they squeeze 28 million oranges per year, so you can imagine the amount of orange peel that produces.

‘That’s where the polymer research started. Krill Design got together with Autogrill and did the research.

‘Then they 3D printed little baskets for the espresso counters where the sugar could be put in for people having an espresso. Now all over the network in Italy, you’ve got these baskets which they have branded internally within Autogrill as “WasOrange”.

‘They’ve moved on from there. Their innovations in food waste management are amazing.’

As of June next year, the filaments of these food waste polymers will also be available for sale.

‘I’ll be able to sell to anybody who’s got a 3D printer and they’ll be able to print their own designs with the filament which is totally biodegradable and compostable,’ he added.

Ohmie, the orange peel lamp, which is a very light 150 grams, is a one watt dimmable lamp which Chris describes as ‘very energy efficient’.

Meanwhile, the smartphone holder, available in three colours, is made from orange peel, lemon peel or used coffee grinds.

Chris added: ‘The coffee grinds one is a community project with the community of Milan.

‘There are three districts within Milan that have coffee shops who have participated and they harvest their used coffee grinds and send them to Krill Design to go into the polymer.

‘Then Krill Design designs various products, 3D print them and then sells them in the same coffee shops where the coffee grinds were harvested from.

‘I’m actually the first in the world to have that same coffee grind smartphone holder now in the orange peel and lemon peel.’

The other side of his business is the wildlife photography.

‘I have a partnership with a good friend and ex-colleague of mine from my days working in Paris who I’ve known for many years, but I didn’t know he was a world wildlife photographer until he went professional about four years ago,’ Chris said.

‘He’s been to almost every hidden corner on the planet, so we’ve got wildlife photography here.

‘He’s also been to Antarctica twice and we project the film of the Wildlife of Antarctica on Fridays and some Saturdays at 4.30pm and at 6pm.

‘We have a wall dedicated to Manx artwork, where I’ve previously featured tapestries by local artists and currently we have Isle of Man photography on display.

‘I am currently creating an event space. Every Thursday I’m planning events, including a networking evening, a social evening, a talk on Shackleton and a talk on moving towards a waste-free future all scheduled in January.

‘I want to make the best use of the large space I have and the best way is to have lots of lovely things on the walls to sell, but then also to get people in not just to browse and buy but to be part of community events as well.’

Idea Hat has recently become an Isle of Man Biosphere partner.

Go to Idea Hat at 14-15 Paul’s Square in Ramsey or find out more at www.ideahat.space