Studiomold: Recycling For Design
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 02.14.07
Designers Brendan Young and Vanessa Battaglia are some of the more effective practitioners of the "recycling without looking recycled" aesthetic that TreeHugger looks for in sustainable designs. Take the "Big Crush" standing lamps (above, at left), for example; they take plastic PET bottles, recycle and mold them, and, voilà: a sculptural lamp base. Not content to stop there with lighting, they've also conceived "Peggy Sue," a cute little number made from ubiquitous clothes pegs and a reclaimed table lamp base; just be sure to drop a CFL in there before flicking the switch. The "no8" stool also offers a clever use of reclaimed materials: the seat is a reclaimed rowing seat from Cambridge, so the design is understandably a limited edition. Perhaps the most fitting use of materials, though, is with their "mini recycled sound" and "recycled sound" speakers. The mini version uses two old records to house the speaker mechanism, with small subwoofer and amplifier attached; the "flat speaker chandelier" uses the same concept to put new meaning to "surround sound system," with a multitude of records (and speakers) that can either be configured as a stand, wall-mount or hanging system. As with life, it's always good to see recycling imitate art. ::Studiomold via ::MoCo Loco
For the most part, this type of recycling is actually "downcycling". The product is on it's way to burial in a landfill or burning and takes a brief detour as a lamp or speaker. It's only slightly better than kids gluing trash together and declaring it "Art". Either way, it's still extractive and wasteful. Baumgart and McDonough suggest creating materials that get used over and over again as either technical nutrients (eg aluminum) or natural nutrients (eg compost) without down grading their quality. Their mantra: "Waste equals food" (input for truly cyclical processes). This approach will help us to move on to a really sustainable society.
You're right typesmith, but before we get there, there are a lot of non recyclable materials out there.
I had a look through their website and I really like the style. Very inventive.