“We believe it is essential to ‘industrialise’ the production of objects using vegetable raw materials, like the 100% natural polymers we are working on, obtained from wood and hemp. Our start-up is constantly committed to making these goods affordable for everyone.

Michele Galeri

When Michele Galeri talks about activities at Officina Biomat, the innovative start-up he founded with four partners, he uses the verb “industrialise” several times. Starting from a great passion for hemp, he and his partners are working to produce an organic substitute for plastics, transforming vegetable biomass: “There are now many natural polymers derived from biomass on the market, but they are very expensive and are always used for artisanal and niche productions. We will witness a real change only when a biopolymer is “industrialised”. Once, for example, it becomes possible to print millions of glasses made from 100% vegetable plastic, thus offering everyone an affordable final price”.

This explains the need to “industrialise” and carry out research & development not only on materials, but also on processes and practical applications. This is also the reason why Michele does not meet us in Assisi (Perugia), – on the land where his partner Andrea Buini’s business, Magi agricoltura, grows hemp for research and development purposes – but in Castel del Piano (also in the province of Perugia): it is here, in Perugia artisan district, that PLA-STampi srl, is headquartered – a company processing plastic materials for the manufacturing of display cabinets and technical items.