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LOOK: UP Fine Arts student finds thesis opportunity on garlic peels waste abundance

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<p style="margin-bottom:0px;margin-top:0px;line-height:2">MANILA — Pioneering sustainable products made out of garlic peels, a graduating student from the University of the Philippines - Cebu, took advantage of the peels’ waste abundance at Carbon Market, Cebu City.</p><p style="margin-bottom:0px;margin-top:0px;line-height:2">Clent Yanola, taking Bachelor of Fine Arts in Product Design, is the man behind the thesis project that went viral on TikTok and who brought garlic peels to the next level—aiming for sustainability in the product development of his study.</p><blockquote cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@sketchykennn/video/7379496393599175941" class="tiktok-embed" data-video-id="7379496393599175941" id="v78835716427028050" style="max-width:605px;min-width:325px"><iframe name="__tt_embed__v78835716427028050" sandbox="allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-scripts allow-top-navigation allow-same-origin" src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7379496393599175941?lang=en-US&amp;referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fnews-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com%2F%23%2Fworkspace%2Fmonitoring%3Fitem%3Durn%3Anewsml%3Anews-workbench-api.abs-cbn.com%3A2024-06-15T14%3A53%3A38.053539%3A184f36e8-708b-4e59-81e9-b7200e8cdc6a%26action%3Dcorrect%26popup" style="width:100%;height:763px;display:block;visibility:unset"></iframe></blockquote><script async="" src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script><p style="margin-bottom:0px;margin-top:0px;line-height:2"> “It’s very… a unique idea that you actually had your thesis study be used as… or to make sustainable products,” Yanola said. </p><p style="margin-bottom:0px;margin-top:0px;line-height:2">The 23-year-old student added that, during his material exploration, he came to realize that garlic peels are very common, yet remain unexplored as potential resources to make something useful and fancy at the same time.</p><div><br/></div><div style="margin-bottom:0px;margin-top:0px;line-height:2"><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:958px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17184603459533.png" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Photo from Clent Yanola."/><span class="fr-inner">Photo from <span dir="ltr" id="isPasted">Clent Yanola.</span></span></span></span><strong>Garlic’s peeled artistic purpose</strong></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;margin-top:0px;line-height:2">Yanola expressed interest in garlic peels upon discovering its richness in fiber and acquired paper-like texture.</p><p style="margin-bottom:0px;margin-top:0px;line-height:2">“So, that’s the first material that I found interesting about garlic peels that I made into sheets,” Yanola said. “And then, yeah, that’s when I continued exploring further the garlic peels.” </p><p style="margin-bottom:0px;margin-top:0px;line-height:2">In the process of studying its characteristics, Yanola found that garlic peels can be transformed into tile-based, pulp, ropes, bioplastics, and leather-like material.</p><p style="margin-bottom:0px;margin-top:0px;line-height:2">“For the sheet-based material I transformed it into… I developed it into lamps since these sheets are pliable, it is flexible, and it has these diffusing characteristics. And then, the tile-based, I turned it into tabletops, round table. And then, for the pulp, I turned it into tapestry dividers,” Yanola said. </p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;margin-top:0px;line-height:2"><strong>Not an ‘easy-peel’ process</strong></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;margin-top:0px;line-height:2">Yanola admitted multiple trial and error processes before he completely conceptualized his study.</p><div> </div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17184604145127.png" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Photo from <span dir="ltr" id="isPasted">Clent Yanola.</span></span></span></span></div><p>“My thesis study really took a whole year of studying and developing. The material development took a whole term, and then the product development took another term. So it took a whole year,” Yanola said.</p><p>According to Yanola, the journey to making his thesis was challenging—it was time-consuming and financially draining.</p><p>“[W]e were pushed and really challenged by my advisors and professors to develop a lot of swatches, develop a lot of materials out of these raw garlic peel materials by exploring material composites,” Yanola said.</p><p> It took a lot of effort as Yanola also elaborated on conducting several stress tests, researches, and interviews with experts, plus the need to contact manufacturers to process his material.</p><div><strong>Peeling off possibilities</strong></div><p>Yanola’s TikTok video featuring his thesis rapidly went viral, reaching wider audiences that is continuously showered with positive feedback from the netizens.</p><p>“The reason why I uploaded that video is that in order to inspire other students, to inspire them and to show something new and to inspire other students to persevere with their thesis study, to take it seriously, something like that,” Yanola said.</p><p>He added that he also wants to make content for good and to show people that he loves what he is doing.</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17184604641946.png" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Photo from Clent Yanola."/><span class="fr-inner">Photo from <span dir="ltr" id="isPasted">Clent Yanola.</span></span></span></span></div><p>“When I posted my TikTok video, it gained a lot of traction. So, some people were messaging me [saying] that they would like to invest in my materials and products,” Yanola said.</p><p>Accordingly, Yanola shared that he is thinking to partner with the design firm he interned as he thinks that it will be willing to invest in his study.</p><div><strong>For unpeeled thesis ideas</strong></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;margin-top:0px;line-height:2">Asked for advice to students on how to think of a good topic, Yanola articulated the power of exploring.</p><p style="margin-bottom:0px;margin-top:0px;line-height:2">“Siguro, the first [one] that I considered, is something that I’m interested about. [For example mine] it’s a topic that I’m interested about. I’m interested in material thinking so I chose a topic on material exploration, material development,” Yanola said.  </p><p>He also shed light on exploring the immediate environment, looking for problems and trying to provide best solutions.</p><p>After graduation, Yanola plans to go into the furniture industry and expressed that he is interested in discovering more materials that are present in the communities of our country. <strong>— Kris Anne Mendoza</strong></p>

<p>Pioneering sustainable products made out of garlic peels, a graduating student from the University of the Philippines - Cebu, took advantage of the peels’ waste abundance at Carbon Market, Cebu City.</p>

Pioneering sustainable products made out of garlic peels, a graduating student from the University of the Philippines - Cebu, took advantage of the peels’ waste abundance at Carbon Market, Cebu City.