SANDSCRIPT TABLE. Artist’s conception of dining table from Echino Stone
ABALONE VESSEL. Artist’s conception of bowl decor from Echino Stone
Primitives Biodesign produces Marble Made from California Sea urchins
Made from Purple Urchins
Besides their inherent beauty and reputation as a fine dining delicacy, sea urchins also contain the same minerals that form marble and limestone. While purple sea urchins are native to California, they have contributed to massive kelp forest decline.
Over 95% of California’s coastal kelp are gone due to strongylocentrotus purpuratus, purple sea urchins. The loss of kelp has generated a domino effect, causing a series of negative downstream impacts across land and sea. Kelp are the forests of the sea and with them gone, fish and wildlife are also diminishing. Kelp forests also play an important role in climate change - sequestering over 20 times more CO2 than land-based forests over the same area. Collapse of the kelp ecosystem have had devastating economic and social impacts on coastal communities. In 2017, California Fish and Game Commission declared the collapse of the recreational red abalone fishery, following the collapse of commercial red urchin fisheries.
ReGenerating Kelp Forest Biodiversity
Primitives Biodesign has been working with ocean conservation non-profits and regional communities in California to restore kelp forests by creating a product that can drive purple urchin removal and large scale kelp reforestation. Primitives has created the world’s first fine marble stone made from sea urchins. For every 9 square feet of material sold, 0.01 acres of kelp forest are cleared of predatory sea urchins.
Over 15 years of ocean conservation research has shown that sea urchin removal drives kelp restoration. This is because kelp are amongst the fastest growing crops in the world. So when you remove their overgrazing purple urchin predators, kelp can rapidly reforest. Kelp reforestation then provides a rich food source and habitat for coastal marine life - creating a thriving and biodiverse ecosystem.
