We asked the young and talented Youth Design Day in Japan participants how, in their opinion, Design can be part of the Planet’s safeguarding movement.
In the video below, you can find the answers they give us to the question “How can Design save the Planet?“
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Jeon Sang IL is a South-Korean 30 years old designer who wants to help solving the disposal problem by creating some new straws and spoons which can be used in different kind of meals like breakfast, or lunch and dinner. In this way, we can reduce the pollution made by disposing lot of plastic cutlery.
This is what he told us about his design and its sustainability.
SOYC: “Can you explain us your project and in which way it can be considered sustainable?”
Jeon: “I designed a waste disposable product making the frame of a straw triangular: in this way the straw is stronger and can be used instead of ordinary disposable chopsticks. Not only the straw: I also designed a spoon making its head bigger in order to be used not only for yogurt but for the entire meal. This progressive disposable product can be used to reduce the number of disposable items that are often wasted.”
SOYC: “What did inspire you?”
Jeon: “My inspiration came from the concept of recycling: is it good as we think? Of course recycling is better than wasting but the process of re-making goods with the one we recycled cause a lot of pollution. Designing multi-use disposable items we hope to reduce the multitude of disposable goods and decrease the amount of waste (even if is recyclable waste).”
SOYC: “Where did the idea of your project takes its origin and why?”
Jeon: “Since 2012, I have been interested in new concept of sustainable and minimalist straw. I was very curious about it. I don’t know why. I think that straw are very interesting object to design. Moreover, My idea of design is related to make things useful in ordinary life, making it more sustainable. Hence, I thought that straw was a perfect object”
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Alessio Gentile is an Italian artisan who, working in the Restoration and Craftsmanship Association Laboratorio Ennio Gentile, had the idea of creating a 100% sustainable tool which can amplify the music reproduced by our smartphone. Its name is “Filofono” and below you can find the short interview we had with its creator.
SOYC: “Alessio, can you please talk about your project, explain us how does it work and focus on its sustainability?”
Alessio: “Filofono is an acoustic speaker for smartphones. There are no cables or wireless systems, the sound of music gets louder and warmer just because of the shape and the materials that we use: thin wood, water based colors, nails and glue. The production is completely handmade, it takes a week of work to complete one Filofono. The project is focused on sustainability for two main reasons: Filofono is a great choice to listen music in a domestic environment without buying a wireless/bluetooth speaker. That means, of course, energy saving. The second reason is the material: wood is a good alternative, especially when it comes from certified forests, if we want to reduce our plastic use for technology tools with low-life term.”
SOYC: “Where does the idea of Filofono take its origin?”
Alessio: “The idea was to build a beautiful object, with a vintage touch, meant to be useful and not only decorative. Only at the end of the creation we realized that Filofono had this natural feeling of a non-invasive design; a good, colored, sustainable alternative to the black bluetooth speakers that we see everyday. A natural amplifier that will never run out of energy. But also a nice item that invites everybody to play with it.”
SOYC: “Why did you decide to create that tool?”
Alessio: “Because I wanted to create a peculiar object, completely handmade, to represent the local craftsmanship and to celebrate the spirit of the people that are working there. I think that we need to start again to care about the importance of manual work and to understand how it can be useful to answer the urgency of finding new solutions for a sustainable design.”
SOYC: “What did inspire you and your idea of creating ‘Filofono’?”
Alessio: “Filofono is built following the shape of the old theatre speakers of the ’30’s. These models were huge, because they were meant to spread the sound of the first talking motion pictures. The horns were positioned behind the screen, so the effect must have been very impressing. We reduced the size and studied how to adapt the width of smartphones inside the speaker, keeping attention to balance the weight of the Filofono with a semi-circular foot. The shape reminds, also, the old gramophone bells, and that’s very close to the sound effect that generates.”
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Italian designer Sara Vignoli, who really care about improving people’s quality of live, was searching for a way to bring nature home. She has found it and called it MO.NAT!
We asked her to explain us how it is possible and this is what she told us:
SOYC: “Sara, can you explain us how you made it possible to make our lives greener and more eco-friendly?
Sara: “Living and working with plants improve air quality, make people more creative, more productive, and reduce stress.
Pots and green walls are the most usual solution to bring nature in our lives, MO.NAT was born to create an innovative way to solve this problem.
Its system is based on two complementary elements, designed for plants and flowers in order to furnish your own “place” in a green and healthy way. MO.NAT: “Your Place, Your Nature”.
MO.NAT’s strengths are:
“Modular Nature” allows creating different combinations that can be adapted to the particular needs of each customer because they are flexible and easy to use.
The vision of MO.NAT focuses on sustainable design, for the choice of materials for each modular recycled and recyclable element and the whole supply chain.”
SOYC: “What is the importance of MO.NAT?”
Sara: “MO.NAT ‘s vision is to bring well-being to people’s lives through a combination of the beauty of Made in Italy design and the nature of plants as a decorative element.
“Modular Nature” wants to give to everyone the possibility to enjoy of green, even when limited time and spaces avoid taking care of it.
MO.NAT makes nature modular with the aim to be easy, adaptable, flexible and customizable, according to the needs and availability of everyone’s space.”
You can see this and lot of other projects at The Youth Design Day in Osaka, Japan. To find out what the other projects are about and be up to date to the latest news, visit our website and our Facebook Page!
Some time ago we talked about a young Belgian designer whose name was Florian Van De Voorde. We told you that he was participating to The Youth Design Day in Japan within our Switch On Your Creativity contest. But we did not tell you anything about his project so we are going to do it now.
We asked Florian to answer some questions concerning his design, which is deeply sustainability driven. Here the interview!
Switch On Your Creativity: “Florian, can you talk about your project and its sustainability?”
Florian: “In Belgium and other countries around the world a lot of parishes and churches feel compelled to get rid of the church interiors and chairs because they are out of date. With the Church Chairs concept, I tried to approach this in the same way: I took old church chair parts and make something new and more contemporary out of them. The outcome of this are two pieces of furniture: The Church Stool and the Church Bench.”
SOYC: “It really sounds a good opportunity for a lot of communities around the world to make their old churches and parishes pieces having a new life! Where does your concept take its origin and why you think your idea could play a significant role in our society?”
Florian: “Last year I did my internship with ONBETAALBAAR. This is a community of craftsmen (and women) who like to invite people to think about a more sustainable way about throwing away things and redefine what is thrash and what could be re- or upcycled.
This experience formed the base on which I made these pieces. I started to realize that sometimes I don’t need to design or create things from scratch. Sometimes forms or shapes of classic and iconic pieces of discarded furniture can start a process of redesigning or reimagining new ones. By doing this I try to shine a light on our current consumer-driven society. Taking these chairs and turning them in some new and more contemporary pieces, I play with my countries own cultural heritage thus making something which is typical from Belgium.”
SOYC: “Florian, can we ask you one last question? What is, in your opinion, the connection between Design and Sustainability?”
Florian: “Of Course you can. I think it is important to rethink the way we design objects, furniture, buildings and our surroundings. Reusing and recycling materials are very important topics when we are thinking of sustainable design nowadays.
If we start designing and thinking about a purpose after the lifecycle of these things and objects won’t be harming nature and her resources as we do now. Asian Studies Group and Switch On Your Creativity chose a very important theme that will become a standard in Design practices all over the world.”
SWOYC: “Florian, we thank you very much for your inspiring words and we wish you will, one day, make all your beautiful ideas become reality!”
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Lot of news are coming!!
They are Xijing XU, Tian WU and Yue LIU. They respectively are 23, 24 and 24 years old and all study at China Academy of Art.
Fascinated by the traditional production process of some typical dishes of their Country’s cooking, they looked for a way to build something that could, in a few simple steps, illustrate and physically explain in a new and sustainable way, how are produced some foods usually found on Chinese tables.
Their project has been proposed and welcomed by Switch On Your Creativity for The Youth Design Day 2018.
These are the words explaining from what does their idea originate:
For us the sensation of the taste is deeply connected with the other feelings, which influence our understandings of culture and even our relevant feeling to a special culture group.
This inspired us to present the traditional productive process of [..] into a modern ritual, which makes the eater (or in this context also audience) come closer to the food history.
If you want to discover which production process these three young designers have worked on, follow the Switch On Your Creativity Facebook page and stay always up to date to the news concerning the projects that will be presented during The Youth Design Day in Japan 2018!
Within the numerous design projects we have collected for The Youth Design Day in Japan 2018 edition, there are some which can be categorized under the theme of “Sustainable Interior Design”. But how can Interior Design be sustainable?
Sustainable interior design creates interior spaces using design principles such as functionality, accessibility, and aesthetics and expands the focus to include environmental considerations.
For example, sustainable design projects are influenced by such factors as planning efficient use of space, choosing materials with low environmental impacts, and reducing energy consumption, pollution, and waste.
Sustainable interior design aim is that to balance aesthetics and functionality with choices that reduce the environmental impact of their designs.
From a sustainability perspective, it’s very important to pick materials and products with the lowest environmental impact. Organic materials (e.g. wood, wool, natural stone) seem the obvious choice, but we mustn’t forget that natural resources need to be treated responsibly. Choose materials that are quickly renewable (such as fast-growing bamboo), and are extracted in an environmentally responsible way.
The environmental impact of materials and products must be evaluated throughout their entire life cycle — from extraction, production, transportation and processing, all the way to how they are discarded after use.
Interior designers have a lot of power in their hands when it comes to waste reduction, and at the same time, a big responsibility to act sustainably. The planet’s precious resources are limited, so the mentality of discarding products as soon as they go out of style and replacing them with those that are currently trendy is no longer justifiable.
Fortunately, the world of design is becoming increasingly aware of the need for sustainable thinking and is experiencing a growing interest in sustainable trends, such as recycling, upcycling and repurposing. Instead of discarding ‘’old-fashioned’’ objects while they are still functional, designers can (and should) come up with creative ways to give them a new life.
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