In this work we introduce ReClaym, a sustainable and personal clay-like biomaterial made from our composted food waste, and a corresponding practice for working with Reclaym called Intimate Making. By using our composted food waste, ReClaym reflects the makers' ever-changing relationship with food, resulting in an inconsistent and imperfect material. In turn, we use Intimate Making to build a collaborative relationship with ReClaym that supports such inconsistencies and leads us to create artifacts that we are emotionally invested in.

We combined our compost with nontoxic binders and stabilizers to create a material that performs similarly to other sculpting clays and doughs.

We use ReClaym to create a range of applications including dishware items (which rely on sterilizing the ReClaym) to glowing garden sculptures (which rely on embedding non-toxic photoluminescent pigments).