algae: a material for healthier urban environments.
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the open design for sustainable future living project is exploring how an open design led process can be used to a develop future products, materials, new processes or services that use algae as the core material; whether at an industrial level such as a future biofuel, at a much more personal level for cosmetics, food source, a new material, decorative perspectives or as a bioremediation (cleaning our air and landmass).
in collaboration with ;
As experimented with the material, the project explored four ways to show people that algae do usable. First one was the seaweed leather, the second one was the bioplastic, the third one was the fibre, which was made out of algae and the last one was the spirulina dying, which allows people to colour the fibre and their additional textiles. For the final decision, using four features in one has been decided.
Together they from a kit. The first component creates a tote bag. To do so, a sample for algae leather has been prepared, which is laser-cutted designating ‘this is algae’. It demonstrates that algae leather could be an option instead of animal leather. Secondly, a pre-prepared mould has been made. It can be filled with bioplastic for creating a tag for the tote bag allowing the user to experience every step of making a bioplastic. Thirdly, fibres with knitting instructions has been added fro the kit for experimenting the creation of tote bags.
Aim ; to attract the attention of people and make them discover the potential of algae / create a kit for people to discover algae.
Opportunities ; home-made bioplastic / home-made algae tote bag / experiencing laser-cut algae leather.
* packaging and content details
