How to Make: The Toothbrush

Original version

BBC Four

BBC 4

How to Make

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

Zoe Laughlin deconstructs three design classics before creating her own bespoke versions.

Designer and materials engineer Zoe Laughlin dismantles three classic items to understand the wonders of form, function and material that go into making them, before building her own bespoke versions.

Designer, maker and materials engineer Zoe Laughlin dismantles and dissects three classic items to understand the wonders of form, function and material that go into making them, before building her own truly bespoke versions, step by step.

Series 1

BBC Four HD

Zoe Laughlin

Bernard Pearson

Gill Abraham

Sarah Trigg

Maia Liddell

Jake Clifford

Ekta Walia

Darren Coates

Paul Kittel

Wonder

How to Make: Series 1: The Toothbrush

The Toothbrush

BBC Four - How to Make, Series 1, The Toothbrush

Designer Zoe Laughlin creates a more sustainable solution for brushing our teeth.

Designer and materials engineer Zoe Laughlin explores the science - and conducts her own experiments - behind creating a more sustainable solution for brushing our teeth.

Designer, maker and materials engineer Zoe Laughlin explores an item so ubiquitous that most of us don’t give it a moment’s thought - the toothbrush. With 200 milion thrown away each year in the UK, she’s on a mission to find a more sustainable solution. 

In search of inspiration, she heads to Sweden’s impressive low-impact mega-factory Tepe, where handles made from sugar-cane-based plastic are ahead of the pack. She explores bespoke production techniques, employing 3D-laser sintering, and dips into the archives of the British Dental Association, revealing the light-bulb moment when the modern brush was hit upon in a prison cell. 

Turning to toothpaste itself, pioneering scientists are using bio-active glass to get more fluoride to our teeth. Unconventional options used at Lush Cosmetic’s Willy Wonker-style lab get Zoe's taste buds tingling, before she reveals her final toothbrush and alternative 'paste'. Both are uniquely Zoe - and just a bit bonkers - but they could also provide a very real eco-friendly answer to our daily brushing needs.


How to Make: Series 1

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