These tiles are made from fired cow manure and terracotta, hence the name "merda", Italian for shit, and "cotta", or baked. The tiles address impending environmental issues and exemplify innovation in green design by using (literal) waste material to create new products.

The Shit Museum was founded in 2015 by Gianantonio Locatelli, a farmer, and Luca Cipelletti, an architect, on the site of Locatelli's dairy farm in Castelbosco in the province of Piacenza. Each day, Locatelli's cows produce approximately 100,000kg of dung, and Locatelli was inspired to find a way to take advantage of this excess and transform it into an ecological project. [see references]

To create Merdacotta, cow manure is stored in a large, oxygen-free vat where methane, the polluting substance from dung, is removed and used as liquid fertilizer. What is leftover is a dry material that becomes both fertilizer and the base material for merdacotta. [see references] This base dung material is then blended with straw and high-quality clay sourced from Tuscany. Placed into moulds, the mixture is then baked at 1000 degrees Celsius and the straw burns away, creating small holes that imitate the texture of pre-industrialised terracotta. [see references] As a result, the tiles are a contemporary reproduction of classic Tuscan terracotta tiles. [see references]

It's suggested that the tiles be used for floorings, interior or exterior walls, or as small tabletop objects, such as coasters. [see references] The tiles make up one component of the "Primordial Products" series, which also includes tableware, flowerpots, and vases. The Shit Museum's Primordial Products were exhibited at the 2016 Salone del Mobile and won first prize in the Milano Design Awards. [see references]

Merdacotta fits into a larger narrative of finding innovative ways to work with farm waste. Agriculture is globally the highest source of methane emissions--a single cow can emit 145 kilograms of methane per year. In recognition of its ecological impact, there have been calls for more sustainable solutions concerning manure management. [see references] Although currently created in small batches, making the tiles unaffordable at large scales, Merdacotta is a glimpse into how farmers could build new branches of production around existing waste. It also hints at what kind of materials could be used in the future for sustainable mass production.