Discover the projects backed by the Morning Accelerator

Narrated by

Bethsabée Boukobza

Published on

2023-06-16

Updated on

2026-07-02

min read

On 4 October 2022, Morning joined forces with Standard Deviation and Nexity to help build a more sustainable construction sector, launching its project accelerator. The aim: to help young companies grow their projects through a support programme.

To be eligible, applicants had to sign up under one of the 5 defined themes, namely:
☞ New materials,
☞ Reuse and refurbishment,
☞ Greening and biodiversity,
☞ Energy performance and renovation,
☞ New construction processes.

What was in it for the selected companies? Greater visibility, access to Morning's network and expertise, as well as a vast testing ground for their solutions across our various building sites. The Accelerator's first season backed 6 projects developed by Malàkio, PowerOfMoss, Compo'plume, Ostrea design, Terrio and Les Tokés du Plastik. Here is a quick overview of these innovative projects and their applications.

Malàkio,
Furniture and decorative pieces made from shell waste

Making "low-tech" objects uses very little energy. By crafting decorative and practical objects from upcycled shells, Malàkio combines artisanal craftsmanship (each piece is one of a kind) with sustainable materials.
Malàkio developed its eponymous composite in 2020. It is made of roughly 60% recycled shells, with the remainder being a mineral binder. The shells are collected, sorted and then upcycled in Brittany.

The variety of shells, in both their colours and their grain sizes, gives Malàkio great versatility. Every piece is therefore unique and can be customised.

Malàkio's furniture is being trialled at Morning Laffitte and Morning Miromesnil. In all, 24 bistro tables were used to fit out the shared spaces at Laffitte. At Morning Miromesnil, you can discover the material in the top of the coffee bar!

PowerOfMoss,
Indoor insulation and greening using natural moss

PowerOfMoss specialises in furnishings and green roofs. Their mission is to "put nature back at the heart of cities" through natural moss. This material has many qualities:

☞ It is antimicrobial, which makes it safer and longer-lasting to use.
☞ It is ultra-dense, which makes it ideal for insulating interiors.
☞ It is reviviscent and withstands long periods of drought. It can "hibernate" for several months or years, waiting for water to return.
☞ It is self-regenerating and near-immortal. When the bottom of the plant dies off, the top of the stem regenerates indefinitely.
☞ It is known as a "pioneer plant", as it colonises bare spaces to clean them up and encourage healthy plants to grow back.

The trial phase will begin over the coming months, on one of the building sites of Nexity, a partner in the scheme!

Compo'plume,
Furniture designed from the waste generated by badminton

Every year, badminton in France generates more than 20 tonnes of waste. Compo'plume has set itself the goal of putting this waste to good use by creating new sustainable materials. There are currently 3 of them:

☞ COMPO'PLUME® VBA ORIGINE, made of more than 70% ground badminton shuttlecocks. It is ideal for making furniture and decorative objects.

☞ COMPO'PLUME® VBA EVOLUTION, made of more than 80% ground badminton shuttlecocks. It is perfectly suited to fitting wall cladding, for example.

☞ COMPO'PLUME® VBA LIGHT, made of more than 90% ground badminton shuttlecocks. The "light" version is perfectly suited to making acoustic or thermal insulation panels.

14 units of the table (in the 50cm diameter format) were used to fit out Morning Mogador. At Morning Pont de Neuilly, it is the tops of the meeting-room tables that are made from Compo'plume. Although still in the trial phase, the results are already very promising! A desk prototype is also in the works.

Ostrea design,
Turning marine waste into responsible, design-led materials

Oyster farming generates 250,000 tonnes of shell waste every year in France. Only 5 to 10% of this waste is recycled. Ostrea design aims to give this recoverable natural resource a second life.
The aesthetic dimension is Ostrea's key point of difference. "The visual identity of the Ostrea material is borrowed from the diversity of Breton shells. By playing on the type of shell or the size of the flakes, the material can take on different identities to suit a range of settings." The material's manufacturing process involves 4 key stages:

☞ Collecting the shells (oysters, mussels or scallops)
☞ Transforming the shells into flakes
☞ Creating the "Ostrea sheets" from these flakes
☞ Machining and customising the material to order.

Ostrea design's furniture and material is currently being trialled at Morning Pont de Neuilly. In all, 13 Ostrea tables are set out in the space. The material can also be found in the worktops of the kitchen area.

Terrio,
Low-carbon raw-earth blocks for construction

Terrio has set itself the mission of "making raw earth an essential material in the buildings of tomorrow". Cement is responsible for 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. As for rammed-earth construction, the raw material is abundantly available and processing it produces few emissions. The Terrio solution offers many advantages:

☞ The carbon impact of raw-earth blocks is 80% lower than that of traditional concrete
☞ Unlike concrete, a well-maintained rammed-earth building lasts for centuries
☞ Prefabricated rammed earth is completely non-combustible and naturally regulates the humidity (moisture level) of the air. It is also an excellent sound insulator.
☞ Terrio's raw-earth blocks are attractive even when left bare and give buildings a unique design.

As this is a new construction process, Morning is not able to run the trial for the Terrio project. The trial phase will begin over the coming months on one of the building sites of Nexity!

Les Tokés du Plastik,
Recycled plastic as a versatile, attractive material

The Tokés du Plastik project aims to make the use of recycled plastic as a material in its own right more widespread, and to fight against single-use plastic. The organisation shares a few figures with us: "Every second, 10 tonnes of plastic are produced. 79% of this output ends up in landfill, in drains, or straight into nature. Recycling accounts for just 9% of the total mass".
To address this, Les Tokés du Plastik champion the qualities of recycled plastic:

☞ Recycled plastic can offer superior qualities to the original plastic if it is upcycled
☞ It is completely watertight, which makes it a material of choice for thermal and acoustic insulation
☞ It is impact-resistant
☞ Its design is discreet and minimalist.