KOHLER WasteLAB™
Driven by a passion for innovative sustainability, KOHLER WasteLAB takes landfill-bound materials left over from the manufacturing process and converts them into functional products of style and beauty.
Turning waste into something meaningful.
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At the KOHLER WasteLAB, we look for ways to see the world differently. Specifically, we look to nature as a model for sustainable processes. In nature’s cycles of growth and decay, waste simply doesn’t exist. The WasteLAB applies such an approach in its manufacturing process, using landfill-bound pottery, wastewater sludge, and other forms of waste to design and produce stunning products.
Kohler x Arsham: Landshapes™ Collection
The second collaboration between Kohler and Daniel Arsham, the Landshapes collection celebrates the skillful fusion of artistry and craftsmanship. The full suite of products, including a WasteLAB® tile collection, transforms the bathroom into a realm of unexpected delight.
Nada Debs: Inspiration to Transcendence
In casual conversation, Nada Debs reveals the daily rituals, global connections, and details drawn from nature that inspired the Transcendence tile collection.
KOHLER WasteLAB x Nada Debs: Transcendence Tile Collection
Known for work that resonates across cultures and geographies, Nada Debs fuses craft techniques, geometric simplicity, and sustainable practices to create moments of connection and belonging through design.
Exploring a New Product Category: Sinks
WasteLAB Vox is the first venture beyond tiles for KOHLER WasteLAB. The sink is made from a revolutionary material, comprised of over 70% recycled manufacturing waste.
New Beginnings for Spent Materials
From clay remnants and cast iron by-products to a stunning canvas of unlimited creative expression, explore the journey and hand-crafted artistry of WasteLABproducts.
WasteLAB Products
We continue to study new manufacturing waste streams and their potential to be repurposed into products of beauty and sophistication; as a result, we are rewarded with new discoveries again and again.
Landshapes Tile Collection
Designed by Daniel Arsham and developed in the KOHLER WasteLAB, Landshapes tiles have a texture inspired by sand deposits left behind by crashing waves and reflect a deep commitment to artistic craft and sustainability. The tiles are produced from nearly 100% recycled material poured around hand-layered patterns of torn paper and then fired at a soft incline to create subtle, eye-catching shifts in color.
Transcendence Tile Collection
Together, KOHLER WasteLAB and Nada Debs are committed to design expressions that touch what is universal to the human experience. Handcrafting the Transcendence tile collection with nearly 100% repurposed manufacturing by-product helps preserve the environment that nourishes our humanity.
WasteLAB Vox® Sink
Marrying style and sustainability, KOHLER WasteLAB introduces its very first bathroom sink. The Vox countertop sink is made with over 70% recycled manufacturing materials. Handcrafted in the WasteLAB, each sink’s matte terrazzo pattern is one of a kind.
Abstra® Tile Collection
Made from nearly 100% recycled waste materials, the Abstra collection features three-dimensional reliefs of intersecting lines that create a dynamic interplay of light and shadow. With endless combinations of color, size, and surface patterns, every installation becomes a unique expression of personal style. The Abstra collection is also available in a matching set of unadorned field tiles with the same undulating surface detail.
Crackle Tile Collection
Crackle tiles are handcrafted by WasteLAB artisans and decorated with a dimensional visual effect achieved with a unique glaze designed to pool and break over the textured surface during firing.
Repurposed Materials
Product designs and manufacturing processes at Kohler are continually evaluated and updated to use resources more efficiently and create less waste. But waste does still exist. In the WasteLAB, we’re working to find innovative ways to transform all waste. Currently, we’re recycling and repurposing the following:
• Dry Pottery Cull
• Cast Iron Slag
• Waste Glaze
• Waste Enamel Powder
• Pottery Wastewater Sludge
• Vitreous Cull
• Foundry Dust
• Foundry Sand
Landshapes Tile Collection Wins Gold in the Best of KBIS Sustainable Standout Category
Landshapes tile by KOHLER WasteLAB x Daniel Arsham was recognized at the 2025 Kitchen and Bath Industry Show as the top Sustainable Standout product at the show.
Transcendence Collection Recognized Among Best of KBIS Sustainable Standout Products
The Transcendence collection by KOHLER WasteLAB x Nada Debs won Silver in the Sustainable Standout category of the 2024 Best of KBIS awards, which recognize creative and thoughtful innovations of products in the kitchen and bath industry.
Kohler’s Innovative Approach to Design Recognized by Fast Company
Kohler associates are continually expanding the limits of what’s possible with design. These efforts were recently recognized by Fast Company for their 2022 Innovation by Design Awards, in which Kohler was recognized across six categories, including an honorable mention in the Design Company of the Year category.
Business Intelligence Group Names the Abstra Tile Collection a Sustainability Product of the Year
Another validation of the important work the WasteLAB is doing, the Abstra collection received Business Intelligence Group’s 2022 Sustainability Product of the Year Award.