Design Anthology: Sustainable Futures at Milan Design Week
Editorial feature & review for Design Anthology
This week, Korean brand RE;CODE collaborated with DEKASEGI, the Japanese design studio by Schemata Architects, to invite designers from Japan, Korea and China to explore the reuse of industrial waste in design.
Inside Dropcity, the new design and architecture hub in the tunnels of Milan’s Central Station, the exhibition questioned conventional lifecycles of material, highlighting notions of reusing and repurposing. As RE;CODE director Kyung-Ae Han explains, ‘We selected nine groups of Asian designers who pursuing sustainability in their respective fields, with a unifying ethos of “creating significant changes together”. The theme of reusing industrial waste was tackled with imagination and creativity through the twelve projects that cover the fields of fashion, furniture and industrial design.’
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Korean designer Hyesun Lee, referenced the polluted ocean crisis with a version of her Hand Lighthouse project crafted from salvaged pieces of marine debris. The handheld lanterns are sculpted by hand with a combination of recycled metal elements and polished plastic collected whilst beach-combing. Architect Jo Nagasaka of Schemata Architects and TANK’s Naritake Fukumoto took a radical approach to a common process in the SENBAN series, an ongoing project in which they worked with a new method of rotational processing, typically used in the construction industry. For RE;COLLECTIVE the pair presented Magazine Bowl, a functional vessel from used magazines is the newest piece in the series.
Designer Kwangho Lee gave new meaning to old mountain climbing ropes, utilising salvaged industrial waste from textile company Kolon to create Nylon Stool, a geometric seat woven from recycled nylon ropes. Meanwhile, Jinyoung Yeon employed processes of disassembly and reassembly to create Airbag Armchair, a voluptuous lounge chair, upholstered in disused airbags from the automotive industry; while Hwachan Lee and Yoomin Maeng of KUO DUO created the KERF plastic chairs by applying woodworking techniques to recycled plastic board.
Visitors to RE;COLLECTIVE were invited to participate in workshops hosted by RE;CODE, with communal tables, benches and lamps made from waste materials, offering a space for participation in RE;TABLE, an upcycling experience aimed at encouraging people to take small actions for the environment by creating something together.
Images Alcova, Milan
