30 November 2016 - Task 6 Workshop

Week 6 Sustainability Workshop

I was absent during the seminar as I was not feeling well. Though, after asking a friend of what was conducted, I was told that each group was centred on a specific object:

·    Chanel bag – High end, style, success, wealth, luxury

·    Little Sun Solar Lamp, by artist/designer Olafur Eliasson – social innovation

·    Levis Western Shirt – historical & contemporary social & culture fashion & workwear/utility (denim)

·    iPhone 3Gs – Technology, everyday. This is an old iPhone.

·    2 Man Dome Tent, Argos – Temporary shelter, flat pack, Cheap mass market manufactured item

·    Brompton bike – Object considered an exceptional design icon

·    Traditional Vietnamese jacket – The Dao (vintage) – ethnic craft & cultural references

I think the purpose of this workshop was to look at each object with different perspectives when investigating the sustainability factors through material and lifestyle.  The task was to work out with:  the ‘speeds’ of the materials, biological to synthetic, mass-produced to handmade, disposable to vintage, and chemical recycling to up cycling.

Reflecting on our answers, I still believe we are more or less correct with our thoughts. As being a polycarbonate plastic, it is a synthetic material and it cannot be remelted so must be destroyed with chemicals. It would also be used for a long time by a person, but due to the amounts produced it cannot be regarded as vintage.After taking this information on board, the next task was to decode our groups object which was the LITTLE SUN SOLAR LAMP.

What did you find most interesting about this workshop?

The workshop could be interesting as to find out the social aspect of whatever product we were given to. If we own an object, we should know what are the stories told behind this object. By venturing and searching it adds to the sustainability to it, plus we will also learn to appreciate and cherish it more.

What did you find most difficult and challenging in the workshop?

If I were given an iPhone 3Gs, I think it will be hard to recycle and fully reuse the whole phone. As technologies improve every single day, users tend to leave their used items behind when they got hold of a new one. I found it hard to create a new object from the iphone 3Gs as it is already completed.  

Did you find it useful working with objects?

If I attended the workshop, I think working and interacting with objects could be another way that we could learn during this whole process. By investigating objects, we could apply theories that we have learnt previously on a physical object rather than just having them imagined. Moreover, it makes us think how we can improve rather than just exploiting our sources.

Do you think this workshop helped you to understand the speed of materials, production, use and recovery in order to help you design with a better approach to sustainable design?

By working through it has shown me to approach designing with a new mind frame. Rather than diving straight into a design piece, it has taught me to slow down the process and examine each aspect, the speed of the materials, production, use and recovery. It has also helped me understand others designs, and ways of changing certain aspects to create sustainability.