Mash Up Crafts

At Milan Design Week

Designers are taking recycling to a next level. Good to see they are exploring new ways to merge materials and mash up techniques. Resourceful raw materials are being developed. Resulting in colourful products with a light hearted look.

Diederik Schneemann uses flip-flops that washed ashore on Kenyan beaches as a new raw material, and made a table out of it. Droog Design worked with dead stock of importers, and used these products to make something that has more value, both literally and in terms of meaning. The upcycled trays were designed by Committee. Design students experiment with materials, Guinan An blew up latex in the microwave to create new purposes fo this material. Matrec used post-consumer waste and used a mould to make colourful bricks. Colombian craftsmen took used pet bottles and applied their traditional weaving with natural fibres, resulting in a range of wonderful Pet Lamps. The vases of Itay Ohaly come in their polystyrene mould. The person to unpack the product is actually the first one to see it. Droog Design translated the colour scheme of traditional Chinese vases into a gradient. This is part of Droog's project The New Original, where designers have explored the Chinese copycat culture, with the intent of copying China. Roberto Mora upcycled garden hose tubes and created a range of colourful fruit bowls.

Read more on Raw Crafts and Elegant Crafts seen at Milan Design Week 2013, and read Craftscurator's post for Stylink in Dutch, or posts on Sustainable Design for Inhabitat.com.