---
title: "How Smart Materials 3D turns oysters, pine and cork into 3D printing materials"
url: https://www.voxelmatters.com/smart-materials-3d-turns-oysters-pine-cork-3d-printing-materials/
date: 2025-11-10
modified: 2025-11-10
lang: en
author: "Tess Boissonneault"
description: "As part of our continued coverage of 2025 Formnext Award finalists, we are looking at one of the nominees in the Sustainability category: Smart Materials 3D. Based in the Spanish..."
categories:
  - "Biomaterials"
  - "Formnext"
  - "Materials"
  - "Polymers"
  - "Sustainability"
tags:
  - "future"
image: https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Olive-manufacture-proccess.webp.1920-640x360.jpeg
word_count: 523
---

# How Smart Materials 3D turns oysters, pine and cork into 3D printing materials

As part of our continued coverage of [2025 Formnext Award finalists](https://www.voxelmatters.com/finalists-formext-awards-2025/), we are looking at one of the nominees in the Sustainability category: [Smart Materials 3D](https://www.voxelmatters.directory/company/smart-materials-3d/). Based in the Spanish city of Alcalá la Real, Smart Materials 3D specializes in transforming agro-industrial waste—including olive pits, oyster shells, coffee grounds, cork and more into—3D printing materials.

Smart Materials 3D offers a range of technical filaments, including fiber-reinforced materials for industrial applications, and pellets for large-format 3D printing technologies. However, it is its SMARTFIL ECO brand that is the reason it is nominated for a Sustainability Award at the upcoming Formnext exhibition. This series includes a range of filaments and pellets that are based on various organic waste materials and biopolymers with no additives or pigments.

[![Smart Materials 3D sustainable Formnext Awards](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/03-Chair-made-with-PELLETSMART-OLIVE.jpeg)](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/03-Chair-made-with-PELLETSMART-OLIVE.jpeg)A 3D printed chair made from PELLETSMART OLIVE

The first eco-material developed by the company was inspired by an abundant agricultural byproduct in its local province Jaén: olive pits. With over 630,000 hectares of olive trees, Jaén is responsible for the production of nearly half of Spanish olive oil, which inevitably generates a lot of leftover olive pits. Typically, these pits are thrown out or burned as fuel, however Smart Materials 3D had a new idea: to dry and micronize the olive pits before compounding them with PLA to create a functional 3D printing material compatible with FDM and LFAM systems.

Following the success of OLIVE, the company set out to compound more organic waste materials, a mission that has resulted in a broad portfolio of SMARTFIL ECO materials. Today, the brand includes a diverse range of 3D printing consumable, including OYSTER, which integrates oyster shells for a ceramic-like aesthetic; PINE, which integrates PEFC-certified pine wood flour and comes in seven natural tones; COFFEE, which is composed of 18% recycled coffee grounds derived from local cafes; ALGAE, which integrates 15% dried spirulina; and CORK, a 100% recyclable material with insulating properties. Each of these materials is notable for its natural pigments and even—in the case of COFFEE—an unmistakeable aroma.

[![Smart Materials 3D sustainable Formnext Awards](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Hall-Teatro-Arcimboldi-Milan-002.jpeg)](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Hall-Teatro-Arcimboldi-Milan-002.jpeg)Bcc Milano Lounge at the Arcimboldi Theater in Milan

SMARTFIL ECO materials have a range of uses. For example, Italian furniture design firm Elli leveraged the company's OYSTER material in the production of custom pieces for the Bcc Milano Lounge at Milan's Arcimboldi Theater. Elli chose to work with the material for a number of reasons, including its sustainable advantage, material strength, refined aesthetics and its alignments with its 'Made in Italy' standard.

Moreover, all materials developed by Smart Materials 3D are created under a circular economy model that aims to minimize the use of virgin plastic and reduce the company's carbon footprint. In the context of the Formnext Awards 2025, the Spanish material developer is in good company in the Sustainability Category: fellow finalists are Continuum for its Greyhound Melt-to-Powder (M2P) platform that turns aerospace-grade scrap into high-performance 3D printing alloys, and EOS, which developed a new materials filtration system that can reduce waste and emissions in metal AM by up to 90%. The winners of the Formnext Awards 2025 will be revealed on November 20, 2025 at a dedicated ceremony.