The Wonderful World of Hemp

Recently I went to a presentation by a small design company called ‘Hempla’ which designs furniture using recycled plant material. The items on display and under discussion were a pair of mediation stools, one 3-D printed using hemp plant stems and the other using sugar cane waste.

The stools are elegant, sculptural and comfortable and they rest on a woolen rug made from hemp and recycled wool. This duo comes with a soundscape which uses the vibrational ratio of the materials as a starting point for the composition. It all sounds quite eccentric but the user experience is rather magical, definitely conducive to a meditation moment.

Today the wonderful hemp stool is a luxury good retailing for $1,065.00. Unaffordable for most but the future of 3-D printing hemp and other organic industrial waste may be coming soon.

As the world’s natural resources dwindle, industrial by-products look set to become part of a new paradigm of sustainable living.

Hemp, is the jewel in the crown in this emerging space. Hempcrete, made from hemp stem waste is an amazing construction material, capable of retaining heat in the cold months and keeping interiors cool in the summer.

Hemp fabric and fiber are both durable and planet-friendly; not only is hemp fiber long-lasting, in addition, the plant itself utilizes ten times less carbon as other crops and needs significantly less water to grow.

For thousands of years across continents and cultures, humans have relied on hemp for a multitude of needs, from fabric to food and medicine.

Where I grew up in Southern England, hemp was the basis of the ancient rope-making industry which was the main employment in the area. The rope was famously strong, in popular parlance the hangman’s rope was known as the “Bridport Dagger’.

Even as recently as 1940 Henry T. Ford designed his Model T prototype with a ‘bio-plastic’ body composed of cellulose, cornhusk and hemp by-products. This natural fiber car body was thirty percent lighter and ten times stronger than the steel alternative. Ford had wanted to help the agricultural industry which was struggling, while the steel industry was already booming with manufacturing for the war effort. He also hoped that using ‘bio-plastic’ in the car industry would encourage other industries to consider using it too. Sadly the steel industry won out and the ‘bio-plastic’ car never went into production.

Perhaps the greatest comeback in the long story of humans and hemp has been the return of cannabis to the Materia Medica. In 1998 the American Medical Association acknowledged the existence of the Endocannabinoidal System (E.C.S.) which maintains homeostasis in the body of all mammals, feeding back information to correct imbalance in between all organs and systems.

Medical science has shown how a wide variety of conditions benefit from cannabinoid treatment. Studies on inflammation, anxiety, seizures, glaucoma have all concluded that cannabinoids will reduce and eliminate these and many more ailments.

A deficiency or imbalance in the ECS leads to inaccurate messaging in the body. Auto-immune conditions are underwritten by endocannabinoid deficiencies and can be treated with cannabinoid supplements.

The U.S. constitution written in 1776 obliged landowners to grow hemp on one acre of their arable land; the plant was so essential it was written into law! The 21st century is just unfolding and human society faces new circumstances which will need new answers. Don’t be surprised to see cannabis hemp making news in innovative developments across the board!