What happens if you take a sample from the ReColored color and material library and experiment with it? The Grid project provides an answer to this. It shows how it is built from lines and strips and that results in 2D and 3D patterns. The different strips and color planes are typical of the grid. These samples are a supplement to the ReColored color and material library, which we use to make new products.
From bunting to curtains. This multifunctional product is an example of how a 2D pattern has been converted into a product form. Repeating the pattern creates the shape of a bunting. Do you repeat the bunting? Then you create a curtain or room divider, for example. In my opinion, a product is never finished. And that is the beauty of it. You constantly discover new connections that leads to new product insights. Celebrate circular!
‘Plastic is mainly used for storing all kinds of things, but often it’s disposed or tucked away in cupboards. With Show-offs I want to put storing in a new light.’ Not only the product that is supported by the plastic is a showpiece, but so is the plastic itself.
Show-offs are modular parts in graphic shapes that you can put together into hanging shelves. You can display small objects on the shelves, but there are also cutouts for toothbrushes and other small, everyday objects. The plastic parts are connected by simple, clear connections. This let’s you know how the shelves are put together and enables you to easily take them apart and make new compositions, replace broken parts or recycle.
“What if we all had access to a machine that transforms your old plastic bottles into a spool of plastic yarn!”
Seeing your old plastic bottles being shredded, thrown into a machine and transformed into a new material is amazing! Within a few minutes
10 plastic bottles turn into a tube of soft plastic/ films wrapped on the roll. All of a sudden there is this spool of yarn you can do all sorts of things with.
Seeing this plastic on the roll and treating it as yarn made me start to weave and wrap it around different objects.
One of the qualities of this yarn is its strength as it is blown out of the machine into a tube.
While diving into different weaving techniques and woven products I came across a PVC cord chair or so called spaghetti chair. I had one of those chairs at home but it was broken so I decided to see if I could use the plastic yarn to weave a new seat.
It turned out that the material worked great for this purpose.
This project for me is about celebrating recycled plastic, and making people aware of and active in the DIY culture.
“ Cutting, hanging, moving, binding, winding, bending while being mesmerized by the aesthetics of the material.”
Working with the material Jessica supplied me with is like being a kid in a candy store. I have an ongoing fascination for plastic objects I come across in my day to day life; sweet wrappers, market bags, bottles caps etc. It’s like finding little gems! It is within these products where I see the beauty, an aesthetic quality that typically isn’t noticed. For me they can be an inspiration for a new starting point to work from or I literally use the found object and transform it into something new.
The way Jessica processes the plastic: colour categorized, transformed into a new material to work with, is really a great way to show the materials aesthetic qualities.
While playing with different colour combinations and the density of transparency, the material made me think of stained glass windows and the effect it has when light shines through. This was the starting point to work from.
I wanted to make an object that emphasises the aesthetics of the material and reflects the playfulness of the process I used on this project.
I love plastic but there is just too much of it…
Personally, this project was a learning curve into understanding more about the different types of plastic that exist, the way they are coded, and the separate ways they can be recycled.
My research went into looking for possibilities to use this recycled HDPE (2) plastic for making shoes.
After a lot of testing (layering, heating, pressing, stitching, folding) the conclusion of my research was that a way to use HDPE 2 recycled plastic for shoes on a larger scale is to make it into components. Used in molds you could produce heels, buckles, or shanks. The recycled plastic could be also used for making shoe lasts.
For this smaller scale research project I worked with the recycled blown films and treated it as a yarn, as if it would be raffia fiber. I looked into the basics of knotting and weaving straps for sandals and bags. The recycled plastic tubes are used as they come straight out of the film blowing machine, as an oversized thread, a rope, then woven into a sole, or a knotted bag. Using the effect of the transparency and the layering and the strengths of the tubes.
We all need to move towards a more recycle-based society. Ideally this research will contribute to create more awareness. When we collect our waste more precise it will be easier to recycle and to re-use.
Instead of producing more plastic, have manufacturers and supermarkets take their responsibility. and give us options to re-fill existing packaging, besides creating plastic collection points.
I show you what you can do with HDPE tube films: you can DIY a simple slipper and a bag, made out of the base-material. Just to get into the groove of recycling being fun and streetwise stylish.
Colors can make your world a lot more fun and pleasing to look at. As a child I have happy memories of the summers at my parent’s house. In our backyard we had this orange sunscreen. Ever time the sunscreen was unrolled my world became oranges and the summer became even more summary.
The colorful pallet of plastics from –Recolored- inspired me to create a product that gives a similar feeling I had as a child under the awning. I used the qualities of the transparency to layer the material. With the use of heat colors will blend and create different color shades.