Industrial farming of corn–not just for consumption, but for making materials like bioplastic and fuel–has led to less prolific maize species becoming endangered. In Mexico, designer Fernando Laposse is trying to stop this process and boost heirloom varieties of corn with a material called Totomoxtle.
Totomoxtle is essentially a veneer made of Mexican heirloom corn husks, which are cut and peeled off the cob, ironed flat, and glued onto paper pulp or fabrics. Each panel has a distinct pattern and coloring, ranging from deep purples and blues to light creams and browns. When they harden, Laposse explains, you can cut them in different shapes either by hand or laser. The pieces are then assembled for use in furniture or interior surfaces on walls, floor, or ceilings. According to Laposse, Totomoxtle isn’t just about putting a new cool material in the hands of designers.
“Totomoxtle focuses on regenerating traditional agricultural practices in Mexico, providing income for impoverished farmers and conserving biodiversity for future food security,” he says.
By offering a way to recycle maize husks, Tototmoxtle offers farmers a way to maximize the profit from their product. Laposse says that his project operates in partnership with the community of Tonahuixtla, a small village of native Mixtec farmers and herders in the southwestern state of Puebla.
Of all of the challenges of finding a way to create a new material out of native species, Laposse says that reintroducing those varieties was the most difficult. “The farmers in Tonahuixtla had lost all their seeds as they were encouraged to swap them for the supposedly better industrial seeds,” he says. “Reintroduction was very complicated as corn is extremely sensitive to altitude and soil composition so you can just simply bring seeds from an area with similar weather.”
According to Laposse, Totomoxtle doesn’t just hold potential for local biodiversity and culture in Mexico. The final product is similar to the effects you get with some exotic wood, like rosewood or bloodwood–tree species that take decades to grow in tropical rain forest. They are harvested for furniture, damaging these important biological reserves. He believes that Totomoxtle can be a good alternative to these hardwoods, to be used in marquetry, interior surfaces, and furniture in general.