When I first moved into my apartment 2 years ago, I was pretty short on furniture. About a week later I noticed a two drawer chest that was broken and had been set by the dumpsters. I grabbed the chest and took it inside, I was able to fix it up for about $11. It only took a can of spray paint, two handles, tools I already owned, and a small plate of plexiglass. I was able to fix it and use it for storage for cheaper than I could buy a chest of drawers brand new.
In the reading Cradle to Cradle, the part that really stuck in my mind was "If our systems contaminate Earth's biological mass and continue to throw away technical materials (such as metals) or render them useless, we will indeed live in a world of limits, when production and consumption are restrained, and the Earth will literally become a grave." This means that if we do nothing but consume and throw things away, than our planet will be nothing but a giant landfill (or grave of trash).
The Rhoener textile video talks at the beginning about growth. The video asks us, What do we want to grow, I think the answer is products with little or no consequence for the environment. Rhoener textiles have taken steps toward achieving this by creating materials that can be turned into mulch when a consumer is finished with it. That mulch will then degrade within a six month time frame, leaving behind no trace that it was ever there before.
My design concept is for furniture manufacturers and how they run their businesses. Furniture manufactures should have a number to call so that when a person is tired of the furniture that they have a store employee could pick it up for free. Then the manufacturer could restore the furniture and redistribute it, and use scrap parts to go on other pieces. Being able to resell the furniture would make up for the price of picking up the old furniture piece and restoring it. I understand not all parts to all furniture pieces would be completely restore-able, but mixing and matching could easily be done.
Laura,
ReplyDeleteI like your idea of using old furniture to make new furniture! Would these pieces continually be re used or would they eventually have an ending in the C2C cycle?
I feel that it definitely depends on the type of material and how worn down the material is. Wood can be used multiple times, all you have to do is sand it down and re-stain it. Textiles for upholstery is a different story, you might get only one use out of it, or the piece might be completely clean and reusable, or at least enough so that they can upholster a chair out of salvaged fabric from a couch or love-seat.
DeleteHi, Laura;
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your furniture story!
I'm not sure how I see this design concept being C2C. It seems that after the second life, you've got a similar problem, no? What metabolism are you considering? What might be some implications for the actual furniture design to make this C2C possible?
The metabolism I used and meant to include in my blog was A world of two metabolisms. I chose that one because it talked a lot about everything we have is already on planet Earth and how when we create something and then throw it away does not mean it has completely gone away. The writing from that section inspired my concept. Also, A furniture company could design their furniture with interchangeable parts. That way if they can only salvage parts off of some of the pieces they get back, they can still use the parts to help with new ones or interchange parts off of different furniture pieces.
DeleteHey Laura,
ReplyDeleteI also thought of this concept when trying to apply C2C into the interior industry, but the reason why I didn't develop a concept about it was because I thought that people would run into the same problem after the second time of use. Maybe you have a better idea of how to fix this.
It all really depends on what condition each piece is in. Different people give different types of wear to their furniture. An older woman who lives alone will have a better condition of furniture than a family of 5 with 3 small children. You might be able to save everything off of the older woman's couch, while you might only get wood and pieces of upholstery off of the family of 5's. I also feel that it definitely depends on the type of material and how worn down the material is. Wood can be used multiple times, all you have to do is sand it down and re-stain it. Textiles for upholstery is a different story, you might get only one use out of it,
DeleteHey Laura,
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of using old to create new, but you don't specifically mention which metabolism you are using. I think you did a great job of explaining what Cradle to Cradle is. As the others mentioned, how could you continue the cycle?
It all really depends on what condition each piece is in. Different people give different types of wear to their furniture. An older woman who lives alone will have a better condition of furniture than a family of 5 with 3 small children. You might be able to save everything off of the older woman's couch, while you might only get wood and pieces of upholstery off of the family of 5's. The metabolism I used and meant to include in my blog was A world of two metabolisms. I chose that one because it talked a lot about everything we have is already on planet Earth and how when we create something and then throw it away does not mean it has completely gone away. The writing from that section inspired my concept.
DeleteHi Laura, I really like your idea, it's easy and very cheap to do! I wish you would have elaborate more on how Cradle to Cradle's background information inspired your thought, but I see your mentioned it in your above comment. I like how you consciously incorporated the idea of both metabolisms, biological and technical gains.
ReplyDelete