About Crafca

A Growing Waste Stream

Cardboard

ROYO addresses the urgent issue of cardboard waste—of the 410 million tons produced annually (Statista, 2025), only 40% is recycled, while 60% ends up in landfills, generating significant greenhouse gases (Biocycle, 2024;Greematch, 2024 ). ROYO offers a more sustainable alternative.

A Polluting Industry

Leather

The leather industry is highly polluting—producing 1kg of leather uses around 17,000 litres of water (Hedberg, Lidén & Odnevall, 2015) and 90% is tanned with toxic chromium, harming both the environment and human health (Rosu et.al, 2015).

One Problem to Solve Another Problem

ROYO as a Solution

ROYO uses the cardboard (paper waste) problem to solve the leather pollution problem by creating a leather made from paper waste.

About 60% more affordable than existing plant-based or bio-engineered leather

Economical

Upcycled waste instead of growing new virgin material like all competitors, reducing the ecosystem’s burden. Due to the choices of ingredients, our material is more biodegradable too.

Ecological

We do not imitate animal leather, we elevate nature and give an eco-material look at one glance.

Eco-Visual

ROYO is a material with rich stories. ROYO incorporates two traditional crafts, Japanese Momigami (揉纸) and Chinese oil-paper making (油纸), to transform waste cardboard into a flexible, leather-like material. Inspired by Momigami technique, ROYO softens and strengthens the paper fibers, while oil-paper methods add water resistance and durability.

Traditional Crafts

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The Environmental Problems

Cardboard

Leather

ROYO as a Solution

Key Benefits