Tasmanian Designers Take on Industrial Waste

Tasmania’s Department of the Environment has issued a challenge, asking local designers to breathe new life into waste materials.  Bricolage, or constructing from whatever materials are at hand, is the theme of the 2009 Bricolage ll DESIGN PRIZE competition, with a particular focus on industrial waste.  Maree Bakker, competition organiser and Sustainability officer in the Tasmanian Environment Division explains:

Many industries are trying to reduce their water and energy use and reduce their waste, but a large amount of waste still goes to landfill.

This competition is an opportunity to reuse some of that waste and encourage new market opportunities through design innovation.

Last years winner Susan McMahon used reconstituted sawdust and recycled flour bags to create her Redivivus dolls.  McMahon liked the idea of creating something that lasts from materials that would usually be discarded.

I am one of five children of parents who lived through the Great Depression and WW2. My parents were great re-users – a habit born of necessity.

They were wonderful role models and the desire to not be wasteful is innate in me. Bricolage fitted very closely with my personal philosophy of not being profligate and I decided to enter.

Other 2008 competition entries included a wetsuit material scrap-stuffed ottoman,  paper made from cotton fibres and apple pulp, and ornate necklaces made using laminex samples.

Entries close 22 May 2009.

[via ByDesign]