Tin Can Lights P2

Abstract

Tin cans, brass, cord, wood, plastic milk bottle, electrical fittings, wood

Tin cans and milk bottles, to name just two examples from a countless number of things, are excellent specimens of design. They are engineered to have the least amount of possible material yet yield maximum strength; manufactured using efficient technological processes; and designed to fit within a well-oiled global system of transportation. Every day we interact with these examples of human ingenuity, yet it is not the object that is of interest. Rather it is that particular design’s one affordance which holds all of the value: the safe transportation of its contents across the globe. Once consumed, that single affordance ceases to exist and the object is jettisoned to become a member of another exponentially expanding population of design specimens – waste.

My research revolves around how design is problematic and how our domestic spaces bear witness to a ubiquitous daily flow of global transient material. The finite elements that make up this material have been carefully prepared by the earth over thousands of years. Yet the many objects we use are designed to be impermanent applications manufactured from permanent materials, which we are then content to throw away.

‘Designing for sustainability’ often revolves around better ways of producing new stuff. My interests lie in strategies for reimagining that stuff we already have and the role that studio-based craft and design can play within this broader global context. These lights are one example of a simple exercise that attempts to utilise and elevate the status of wasted commodities – goods that have great potential beyond their original intent.

Design is waste is design. Show more