Creative Recycling!

At the moment, my chosen subject area is based around the idea of the wastefulness of today’s consumerist society, ethical/green design, and ‘unconsumption’.












“Unconsumption means the thrill of finding a new use for something that you were about to throw away.
… Find[ing] a new home for the functioning VCR you just replaced, rather than throwing it in the garbage.
… Enjoying the things you own to the fullest – not just at the moment of acquisition.”



I want to look into ideas that challenge people to take on a more responsible relationship with the "stuff" in their lives.

The topic of ‘ethical design’ is rather a large one so I’m not entirely sure where to begin – maybe looking into specific companies such as ‘Lovley As A Tree’, ‘Thomas Matthews’, and ‘Zerofee’ (to name a couple), their ethos and philosophy etc. Then perhaps go on to looking at how people can change their attitudes and how one would go about being ‘green’ in the world of design.
I’m interested in the recycling and reuse of objects in particular (like the image above) so perhaps I could find a few relevant artists that practice this kind of design. Can this ‘creative recycling’ be achieved on a large scale?

I’m still a little uneasy about this topic. Not sure I’m going to go ahead with it, but these are my ponderings at the mo…


- Liz