WEEK 10- TED

Today we were involved in a workshop 'Digital craft- a hybrid design practice for sustainability' run by Clara Vuletich from Textiles Environment Design (TED) in Chelsea College of Art, London.
She was involved with in essence, a research group of textile designers that explore new ways to create textile designs in a sustainable or more sustainable way.
The designs are usually multilayered sustainable designs because they involve many different sentimental/personal/ memorable elements. In designing something in a more sustainable way it was important to look at the full product life cycle when designing.
Fashion and textile industry is very rapid with changing tastes causing people to throw out their old clothes and buy new ones. This fast moving highly wasteful fashion industry needs to try and be changed because it is too harmful for the environment.
Clara talked about 'slowing down' and referred to 'slow food - local, quality, doing things slowly' which can be further read about in the below links.
'life is home grown and always has been'

After this we then moved into the workshop where we were told to bring some materials that either had meaning to us or basically were left over from either old clothes or anything we had at home. We all brought in old and unwanted clothes and fabrics and reused the fabrics to create a quilt! We recycled or upcycled these materials into something that was more useful. Though it may not look pretty it has stored sentimental value and so this is the idea of having multilayered sustainable designs.
Heres the class combined quilt with everyones patches (taken from the wiki site):

My patch is (from top left corner) three across one down. I used denim (black and light blue jeans) with flannelette

references for further information and reading:
www.tedresearch.net
www.transitiontownbrixton.org
www.slowfood.com
slowfoodaustralia.com.au

EVALUATION

Overall I am happy with the design proposal we have created. Though I probably would have developed a system solution and not necessarily an object solution I am still pleased with what we have come up with. I think the ‘Boxshelf’ if made for purchase would definitely not be painted with water based acrylic paint.  A glossy hard coating such as a tupuc polyurethane finish would make the shelving much more appealing and have the ‘Ikea’ compact storage unit appeal which I think would provide a much more profitable outcome.

The shelving unit as an idea is good too, though I found a few problems with it, when analysing from a more practical perspective. Using a very fragile material, in a sense, in polystyrene, to hold items that can quite often be fairly rigid and heavy seems a little difficult. The polystyrene can break down easily and one scrape of its edge would most likely cause some of it to break apart which i’m sure would not be desirable for consumers. The recommended finish would keep the object protected although what may need to happen is if you put a white painted tupuc polyurethane finish on the insides of the box it will be held together. 

The advantageous aspect of the ‘Boxshelf’ is, besides the sustainable and waste management features, it’s flexibility. The shelving unit is able to be changed and mixed around to the owners discretion. The consumer can even take some boxes away if necessary so the Boxshelf can be for everyone, as it can fit in basically any interior.

Over the process of developing the Boxshelf, visual maps and other waste solutions, I believe our group worked exceptionally well together. Even at times where some students abilities were needed more then others. As well as being in charge of the wiki site I was also able to work well with all the members of the group at all times during the process. I felt really comfortable to communicate with all the students and I think we were all willing and happy to work as a collective which is of major importance in group tasks. When working on the visual maps I felt as if I was still included as I was developing the look and ideas and then the viscom students (Rainie and Queena) were able to put these ideas down and actually produce some really effective visuals. I helped with the wording of many parts of the assignment and made sure everything flowed together smoothly as I felt this was one of my strengths I could provide to the group. Our group worked well both as a collection of individuals and as a collective. At times we had individual tasks however we still would be talking and working well together. When Rainie and Queena were developing the revised visual map and poster template, Courtney and myself were able to paint the boxes and Vanessa was able to make the acrylic clips (which unfortunately I was unable to help her with because I wasn’t allowed in the room). Even when we were painting I still stopped many times to see if Rainie and Queena were fine and sometimes they would ask questions and we would then converse and create what we wanted. Courtney and I also then went home and worked on the business solution visuals used in the template and sent those to the viscom girls to tweak and apply to the template. We were able to work well both together at uni or separately at home and at no point in the whole eight weeks were there fights or arguments and I’m exceptionally happy with both the positive group dynamic and the final waste solution product.

REVISED MAP & TEMPLATE

In the new and revised visual map of the waste in Pyrmont it is evident that we have made the zones more 'green'. This is due to our innovative ways of solving the waste problems in the area. As can be seen some specific types of waste have been dramatically reduced because of our introduced methods of reducing and managing the large amounts of waste mainly coming from the apartment blocks with the Ultimo/Pyrmont area.

BOXSHELF ARRANGEMENTS

After looking at the site in Fraser Studios, Located on Kensington lane at Central.. We were able to get a clearer understanding as to how the 'boxshelf' was going to be installed within the space. When looking at the plan it is evident that 'waste in the city' has the largest space which makes it much easier to work with. Vanessa and myself took down a few measurements so that we could go back to our 'boxshelf' and start working out the arrangements.

 Here is the spatial floorplan showing how the zones are split:

When we came back to level 7 we were able to test out a few versions of the 'boxshelf' working out whether we wanted boxes on certain angles, having colours grouped together, having some boxes reversed so the colour is showing, making fixed shapes out of the polystyrene containers.

SOLUTIONS

So we came up with three solutions for our three waste problems. . .


(1) The first business solution is the 'biocup initiative'.
This is a marketing campaign targeted at local cafes in Pyrmont area to introduce a more sustainable option for disposable cups. The Campaign will also promote use and supply of 'keep cups' and offer promotional signage to benefit cafe's image in regards to stewardship in waste reduction and elimination.

BioCups are an environmentally sustainable alternative to regular take-away coffee cups.

“Unlike traditional paper cups that use a petroleum-based plastic lining, the BioCup uses a corn-based plastic lining (PLA). Therefore, it is fully renewable and leaves a smaller environmental footprint. And it does so without adding anything that will distract your clients from the rich, deep flavour they have come to know and love. One more step toward a sustainable future. Together, we can make a difference one coffee at a time.

BioCup can be composted in a commercial compost facility, however this option is not widely available in Australia. If the BioCup ends up in landfill, it still has upstream environmental benefits, such as reduced greenhouse gas emissions and reduced dependence on fossil fuels. To gain maximum advantage though, the compost bin is the recommended destination, completing a cycle by enriching the earth that helped produce it. For those concerned about the environment, its a happy ending for a cup that’s just beginning to make its mark on the world.” (www.biopak.com.au)

(2) The second business solution is the 'Com-partment'. 
COM-PARTMENT provides an apartment composting service which will allow for the recycling of food wastes using apartment suited ‘Com-bins’. A small recycled bin that will be used by all residents for their food waste. Once the Com-bin is full the residents would place the bin in a designated area such as a garbage room which would then be collected by Com-partment employees. The contracted Com-partment employees will then take these Com-bins and compost the material provided by the residents and then clean and return the Com-bins to the residents. There will be spare bins provided upon request to residents with larger food disposals. The residents which are in effect composting through Com-partment will be able to order the extremely fertile soil which will come in different sized packages so that they can be used for their own plants or other means.

(3) The third business solution is the 'BOXSHELF'
The boxshelf furniture design collects polystyrene boxes from our local Sydney fish markets and use these landfill contributors for innovative shelf design. Boxes are custom painted to specification using environmentally friendly water based paint and are multi-use items from storage to exhibition display.

PAINTING BOXES

Once we painted the boxes we realised that the colour was still fairly light and so they needed a few coats. The yellow boxes came out the best with them only needing two coats however the blue boxes needed three coats. A therapeutic session of painting commenced by the entire group and we were able to paint all the boxes fairly quickly as we were all working on them together. 

One of the groups did request that they could get plain white boxes for their display as they believed that the colours may not suit their project. We were a bit skeptical the white wouldn't fit very well at first however once we put them together the white boxes suited fine.

We used three acrylic paints and after a practice airbrush attempt it was obvious we needed to hand paint the boxes either using paintbrushes or rollers. We decided that the brushes were more precise and allowed for more control. We wanted to keep the labels on boxes so it was important to have that control so that no paint would seep through onto the labels. The water based acrylic paint was a good option for the boxes and the final result wasn't disappointing.

WEEK 10- MILKWOOD PERMACULTURE

This weeks lecture was presented by Nick Ritar from Milkwood Permaculture.
Milkwood is a small organic farm near Mudgee in central NSW. It was all about basically sustainably providing for human needs which Nick recognised there to be three important things that must be followed. These include:
1. CARE FOR EARTH
2. CARE FOR EACH OTHER
3. SET LIMITS ON CONSUMPTION
With these in mind we can create a sustainable world without causing as much waste as what the population is creating now. He spoke a lot about how human waste is flushed out to sea although it could be used as a good fertiliser, proposing the design task of creating a more circular system so that human waste can be transformed into something thats not completely wasted.
This was a interesting lecture which directly hit us with a problem that needs to be solved!

More information can be found at :
 www.milkwood.net
slowfoodaustralia.com.au

WEEK 9

Coming back after the break we were told to focus on three main problems within our suburb. The three top waste problems recognised in Pyrmont that we decided have the potential to be resolved were:


1. Polystyrene boxes used as insulation packaging for transporting fish, found at the fish markets 
2. Lack of compost bins/use in apartment blocks
3. Coffee cups- non recyclable.

After selecting these three items we were asked to develop a solution to reduce the amount of waste of this particular product. We decided, because the polystyrene boxes were only found within our area that we should use this as other groups can develop means for tackling say packaging, food waste etc. 

The solution that was developed for the polystyrene boxes was an idea for a shelving unit using the strong boxes. They come in different sizes and so we thought we could be creative in developing a useful product such as a bookshelf and make it look good so that people would want them in their households. 

After speaking with Marie it was further decided that our shelving unit will hold the other groups products for the exhibition. Vanessa spoke on behalf of the group about the shelving unit and what the possibilities could be and they seemed pretty keen to have their objects presented in our shelving unit. The unit was flexible too so they were quite happy to work with us in creating a good display at the exhibition.

We thought of other flexible means such as painting the boxes in a whole range of colours so that whoever was to purchase the boxes could change the unit in a way to suit them, picking colours they like and creating a structure that suits the goods they want to put on it. So the mission started to see whether this ‘boxshelf’ was possible for the exhibition and we can further our ideas after we know we can actually get the boxes for next week.

SMITH FAMILY FACTORY TOUR- VILLAWOOD

Today we trecked it out to villawood for a tour of the Smith Family Factory and for an information seminar on what other products they produce, what it is they do, information on the material composition and other aspects that the Smith Family deals with in their operations.
Unfortunately the weather was very miserable so we were drenched before we even stepped in the door. The first presentations were focused on firstly a general understanding of The Smith Family (presented by Cathy Bray CEO and Adrian Brennan). Secondly there was a presentation on the clothing recycling by Delores D'Costa, the operations manager. Thirdly there was a presentation on non woven plant materials by Adrian Brennan.
Of these I found Delores presentation the most interesting.. I think if i did fashion design possibly Adrian's would have been more interesting however with the idea of designing new clothing banks or spaces which could assist in these reycling methods, Delores was the most interesting.
Some points taken from the day:
- TSF has a capacity to manage over 12million kgs of clothing oer year, There are corporate and in store donations. They sell yesterdays fashion at affordable prices with quality products. They target market consists of lower end shoppers and they are often regular browsers.
- Some of the competitors include Target, Ebay, Salvation Army, Kmart, Best & Less and Vinnies.
- The clothes if not put into a retail store then can be 1. Exported, 2. Turned into wiper (30x30cm sheets), 3. NW Business (for rag tearing- only can be done with clothing that has no buttons, toggles or zips. 4. Waste.
-Manage over 700 banks each with a general building cost of close to $800.
-Dumping is a major problem as people don't read the labels on the clothing banks.
After splitting into groups we were then taken outside and shown how the trucks firstly get weighed with the clothing they have brought with them. Once the truck is emptied it is then taken back and weighed to calculate the weight ot the clothing itself, and i think the collector is paid depending on the weight of this..
We were then taken through the three lines. Line 1: Virgin or recycled Fibre, line 2: Reclaimed 'regenerated' fibre, 3. Virgin, Recycled or reclaimed, 'regenerated' fibres.
What was really interesting was the amount of products that TSF manufactures:
including:
-car fabrics
-woven image
-weed matting, soil stabilisation and capillary
-reusable wipes
-insulation batts
-bowling green underlay
-printed bar mats
-furniture removal blankets
-filtration fabrics (general industrail filter fabrics)

With all these new products it leaves quite a lot of room for innovation and design. Another part of the presentation that i found more fun was the creative use of the collection banks. MetalMasters in the UK has come up with a few styles of collection banks:

 

VISUAL MAP & STATEMENT

WEEK 6-SHANGHAI EXPO

Mike Day today spoke about his experience in China’s Shanghai World Expo. Being a lighting specialist the perspective within the Shanghai Expo Mike Day had was very focused towards looking at new and/or interesting lighting and atmospherics adding to the experience. He showed many photographs of the expo looking at different countries pavilions. I found this presentation to be more interesting for me as I am involved with designing interiors. Especially seeing as though many of the materials used in the expo were quite often recycled, reused or sustainable materials. Mike gave great descriptions of the feeling of what it was like to be inside these pavilions and so it turned out to be an interesting and engaging presentation.

CHANGE FOR THE EARTH

Today was a really informing look into various aspects of change in relation to saving the earth and making the earth sustainable. the three main elements discussed were (1) POWERFUL SOCIAL BARRIERS TO CHANGE, (2) ENABLERS OF SOCIAL CHANGE and (3) FUTURE CHANGES..
Firstly looking at (1) there are 5 main social barriers to change:
#1: Climate change is abstract
#2: Living in a competitive consumer culture
#3: Obsessed with 'NEW'
#4: Thought of buying time
#5: Values and self concept
I found these five barriers very interesting. It is important to make people visualise whats going on. If people are able to visualise the benefits of change they would be much more likely the change. Another important aspect was because we are still going to be obsessed with 'new' and still be a competitive 'throwaway society' there may be a shift to products becoming sustainable and trendy. If products that are seen as sustainable, recycled, or just helping the environment become the latest thing to buy or wanted then this will be a great way for change.

(2) five main enablers of social change include:
#1: Good Design
#2: New technology and textiles
#3: Globally consistent trust marks
#4: Ethical marketing and retailing
#5: Consumer Expectation
Out of these enablers i found it interesting that a large number of people believe that developments in techonology will be the solution to the affects on the environment and they believe that techonology will resolve the issue. A good thing is the fact that people EXPECT change will come which will allow change to be more easily put in place.

(3) five possible future changes include:
#1: Finding something 'NEW' is going to stay- just need to make different products
#2: High volume disposables to high quality durables
#3: More recycling and repurposing
#4: Redesign fashion norms
#5: Local production may be back
Overal this lecture was a very informing look at change and the problems around enforcing change for the better.

http://www.globalchange.com/
An example is seeing Hummers being a really good car and something that looks great to seeing it as an inconsiderate polluting machine:

TEXTILE WASTE

Kerryn Caulfield, cheif operating officer at Apical International Pty Ltd came to speak about mainly textile waste. It is a massive problem as she pointed out that everything we are wearing basically ends up in landfill. Waste generation is increasing however one good aspect is that business created the problem and business have the power to solve the issue and the government is positive in acknowledging and finding a solution to the problem.
Regenerating textiles makes sense as it uses less of everything. Product stewardship needs to be taken on by alot more companies. The understanding is that the producer of the item is liable and responsible for the whole life of the product. eg. Sony and Samsung responsible for full life of TV's.
An interesting concept is the creation of ethanol out of denim. Other recycling methods are being introduced by companies such as Nike where they have 'Earth has sole' where they recycle running shoes into playground flooring.

WEEK 3- PLASTIKI

Discussion with Naval Architect whilst viewing the boat..

Today we went down to the Maritime Museum to have a look at the PLASTIKI boat. The boat is made using recyclable materials. The main material used was SRPET (Self Reinforced PET). It has a unique high damage tolerance and is highly flexible with great elasticity. 

Some of the requirements of the vessel included the following:
-Had to use drink bottles
-Had to carry 6 people safely across the pacific ocean
-All materials needed to be recycled or recyclable

In working with 'downgraded' materials the naval architect went back to the polynesian voyaging vehicles. The final ship ended up being a 60ft boat with a narrow beam separation. Plywood was used on the main structure in original prototyping with corrugated iron as steel is recyclable. It was then realised that a rudder was necessary which led to the change in materials.

The SRPET needing to use steel moulds. It took 5/6 hours on each panel and needed 200 degrees heating to adhere the material together.

Here are some images and another video of the boat:

WEEK 2 -CITY OF SYDNEY- KATH MCLAUCHLAN

City Of Sydney is the local government authority responsible for looking after Sydney's CBD as well as 30 surrounding suburbs. These include Sydney Harbour at Rushcutters Bay to Glebe and Annandale in the west, Sydney Park and Rosebery in the south, and Centennial Park and Paddington in the east.
The lecture today looked at a number of recycling issues as well as the waste cycle and the different types of waste collection days. These are some of the key points I picked up from today:
City Of Sydney- 300 staff, 24/7 cleaning with a target of 57% division of landfill.
Average in your bin includes: 30% other, 7% paper & cardboard, 39% food, 13% recyclable containers and 11% organic(garden related waste).

Recycled object:
Steel cans > Car parts
Aluminium cans> new cans
Glass bottles/jars> more bottles
Old soft drink bottle> new fleecy jacket or soft drink

Quaterly E-Waste recycling- includes tv's monitors, appliances, printers, laptops etc.
More sustainable options- Worm farms and compost bin
Waste Cycle- 1. extracted from environment 2. factory 3.packaging/transport 4. consumer 5.goods consumerd 6. waste discarded/ transported.

References:
http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/zerowaste/  

the real cost of fishfingers- Supervalue

http://www.wasteservice.nsw.gov.au/dir138/wsn.nsf/Content/Facilities

http://www.visy.com.au/recycling/index.php?id=188


Remember AVOID.REUSE.RECYCLE

INFOGRAPHICS

Today we had an insightful look into infographics and were shown a great deal of examples as to how infographics can be presented. Some poor examples were shown and compared to good examples and ultimately the ones that were good seemed to have a few main common aspects. 


(1) They were clear and concise,
(2) Basic and simple symbols and 
(3) relevant visual metaphors.


Infographics are a great way to present a vast amount of information into something that can be understood quickly and still provide enough information to understand. Good examples of this include the image shown on 'Napoleons army' as well as 'cubism and abstract art'.

Some of the other items i picked up from today was using colour as a coding device. Colour is an important element and should be used effectively eg. green for grass. white for milk rather than for example blue for coffee. (blue would be more appropriate for water and brown for coffee). 'The Perfect Pour- a citizens guide' infographic coffee pie chart was shown as an effective method of displaying information. the viewer can easily associate the colours and symbols with the respective foods/liquids. When the graphic language makes sence it is much more effective.
When developing an infographic the main positive things to think about are having: visual metaphors, things that cause reactions eg. smile/ humerous/ pay attention, language the viewer can understand, relevant visual language and metaphors, simple language.


'Aftermath of Haiti Earthquake'

 'The Perfect Pour' 

  'Napoleons Army'

 

WEEK 1

This subject is looking at waste management and how designers can play a crucial part in solving waste issues and can help reduce Sydney's waste. We started off by forming into groups of 5 which saw me in a group of 5 students with all of the 4 being interdisciplinary students. I think we will work well as a group because there is a mix in perspectives. Plus some people will be stronger at doing certain tasks along the way then other people due to their studies. So my group members involve Visual Communications students- Queena and Rainie, Fashion student Courtney and Industrial student Vanessa.
Each group was allocated in a kind of first in best dressed way and luckily we were able to get the location that we wanted in Pyrmont/Ultimo. I love the area and am often there so I found that I would be alot more comfortable in going there often then say Redfern. In selecting Pyrmont we were also required to pick a street and so everyone got out their Iphones and were able to check almost instantly and decide upon streets they would do. I decided on looking at Pyrmont street and Point Street. These streets I knew had character with from memory small cafes, bars, restaurants and Star City Casino which I knew would be interesting to look at. For next lesson we should gather information about the sorts of waste that would be generated on these streets and then once we put our information together we develop a 'waste snapshot' of the area to help understand demographics, lifestyle and most importantly the waste and types of waste that is produced.

Some images taken from trip to Pyrmont street and Point street:

http://helsinkidesignlab.org/

'Palmanova-Italy'

WEEK 1

The first week of uni and straight into it!.. Suprisingly the first week and i'm already liking this subject. The lecture was interesting looking at new interactive medias and looking at how we can design elements to inform people creating a more informing, interactive environment. It was important to look at how people learn things and how people make things, looking at the way you want it to be and the way you want things to work before you design the actual place. This was a relatively new concept to designing and allows me to really focus on a more practical attitude towards design.
Some clever interactive creations displayed were: (1) An interactive traffic light that talks to you when you press it. It's not only exciting but also provides information (relatively useful) to the pedestrians crossing. another (2) included public displays of the energy performance of a building. I think this would be great to implement into some buildings so people walking past can really see how 'green' they really are. (3) was chairs at a bus stop which once two people are sitting down they rotate to cause the two people facing eachother, forcing on a conversation between the two travellers. Though this one i thought was abit too extreme it was a clever idea to make interaction. (4) Multi language screens at a bus stop would also be useful in some of the inner city bus stops as Australia is very multicultural and with the large amount of tourists in the city they would find it useful.
So basically, the interactive medias and innovative ways of causing interaction was an interesting idea that could be further looked at in my future endeavours. I need to look at DESIGN. UNDERSTANDING. STRATEGY and BEHAVIOUR.

BLOG

So this is it!..
Third year interior design blog.