Sustainable Design; Cyclability and minimising waste

This weeks lecture was based on design for cyclability and Design to minimise waste. both very important things in the design process for the future. Cyclability is based on 5 points within a life cycle: The raw material (fabric) then the manufacture (the process in which it is made) , the distribution ( the fabric or material being distributed all over the world then the use of the material, whatever it may be used for then it comes to the end of its life, the question is what happens after that? what happens when people get rid of there old clothes and materials, can they be used for something else. 

Recycling by itself, only postpones the arrival of the discarded material at landfill, where it may never biodegrade, may degrade very slowly, or may add harmful materials to the environment as it breaks down.

A genuinely sustainable future depends on creating closed loops, or cycles, for all industrial commodities. In a closed-loop, materials would never lose their value and would recycle indefinitely.

Livingston, B (2203) Forward Recycling of Synthetic Contract Textiles: a vision of the sustainable future, The Design Tex Group 

Exploring this i have looked at a few designers that have thought about up cycling and recycling clothing and materials. 

Rebecca Earley and Kate Goldsworthy took up cycling into there own hands by setting up a specific project based on the up cycling of old charity shop shirts, they would buy these shirts and then transform them into totally new pieces of clothing, using there various known techniques they had learnt they gave these shirts a new lease of life. within this they use no harmful chemicals or glues whilst transforming the shirts, meaning they can be up cycled again and again. 

Ecofashiontalk.com 

Earley and Goldsworthy, transform out of date, unloved clothing into beautiful vibrant new pieces and that is what cyclability is all about, taking something old and making it into something that can be used over and over again. 

Another part of cyclability that interests me is the 'worn again' campaign, there is something so exciting about taking something that has one use then making it into something totally different. A technique that anyone can do to reduce waste. Eurostar took part in worn again and took old uniforms, that their staff used and changed them into luggage bags that the staff could use. As most big companies, uniform changes are a frequent thing, so by using old uniforms to make new bags, means less waste from the uniforms. They go through a process of design, deconstruction, cleaning and manufacture. Here is the end product; 

I also did a Workshop with Jane Bowler, back in the summer, she is a fashion/accessories designer based in london, she uses old, new and very exciting everyday objects that you wouldn't think of. mostly using everyday plastics and materials found around the house, she uses hand dying techniques and heat forming/molding techniques. Jane's eye see's something that can be changed and molded into making something else, she makes beautiful handmade pieces that are now known all over the world and i had the pleasure of working with her for a day. She gave us all different objects that we had to make something with, i had old curtain rings, scraps of plastic and plastic tubing; here is what i made; 

Here is one of Jane Bowlers pieces; 

I think everybody can take up up cycling in any form, weather it be transforming old pieces of clothing or simply reusing materials and objects for another cause, this as a whole can reduce massively the amount we waste and just forget about when we throw things away.