Reflection of Lecture2, 4. Design to Reduce Energy and Water Use

Adidas' DryDye Garment (http://www.adidas.com/com/goallin/news/2012/08/adidas-drydye)

  Dying process needs a significant amount of water and energy use. Adidas created the DryDye technology, which uses pressurized CO2 in place of water to dye t-shirts and other garments.

A typical t-shirt requires 25 liters (6.6 gallons) of water to dye and process. Water is often used as a solvent in pre-treatment and finishing processes such as washing, scouring, bleaching and dyeing. Each of those processes also uses chemicals. According to adidas the DryDye process uses no water; 50 percent less energy and 50 percent fewer chemicals.

To put water savings in perspective, adidas says in about two years the textile industry uses enough water to fill the Mediterranean Sea to dye clothing. In second quarter 2012 adidas produced 50,000 DryDye t-shirts to meet retailer demand. In that production run, adidas saved over 1,200,000 liters (317,000 gallons) of water. The company is working on using the DryDye process on other garments beyond t-shirts in the future.

References
・Adidas. (2013) INTRODUCING ADIDAS DRYDYE, [Internet]. Available from :<http://www.adidas.com/com/goallin/news/2012/08/adidas-drydye> [Accessed 28 October 2013].

Reflection of Seminar1

  I researched traditional Mexican handmade crafts for this project. In Mexico there are many kinds of interesting handmade crafts such as masks, ornaments, embroidery and so on.  
Mexico's artesania tradition is a blend of indigenous and European techniques and designs. This blending, called "Mestizo" was particularly emphasized by Mexico's political, intellectual and artistic elite in the early 20th century after the Mexican Revolution.

  I focused on a traditional ceramic handmade craft which is called "tree of life". Tree of life is a kind of traditional clay sculptures created in central Mexico.  These sculptures was originally for the teaching of the Biblical story of creation to natives in the early colonial period. Because of this, traditional these sculptures are supposed to consist of certain biblical images, Adam and Eve, but some recent tree of life sculptures have specific themes completely unrelated to the Bible.

                               

                                               


  A lot of images are included in tree of life like Adam and Eve, flowers, animals, and humans. The Color used in tree of life is very vivid and colorful that I can feel Mexican culture. I'm really interested in the color and the images included in tree of life. I think I would like to express the inspiring colors and 3D structure of tree of life using  knitting techniques.

          

How to apply my creations to sustainable cycle?

(working sheet from seminar1)

① Raw Material

natural fiber ( wool, cotton, silk, linen,…..)

② Manufacture

making yarn, dying yarn, and knitting the yarn to make creations (fabric)

③ Distribution

×

④ Use

selling creations, or exhibiting creations (fabric)

⑤ End of Life

cutting fabric to return fiber condition

Art Creation for Upcycling

Notice-Forest (http://yuken.brandonstore.com/projects-1/notice-forest)

Last Saturday, I went to Saatchi Gallery with my friend for research. I found a beautiful art creation. The artist is Yuken Teruya, New York based artist. He uses tiny scissors to cut intricate tree shapes into high-end designer store bags. 

Yuken Teruya
Yuken Teruya Golden Arch Parkway McDonald's (Japanese)

2005

paper, glue

9 x 15.3 x 26.5 cm

Yuken explains, "I cut out one side of disposable paper bags. Then I assemble a tree from the cut-out-part, stand each tree in the same bag that it came from. When you see it under the natural light, the delicate tree shows inside a paper bag, shows us the strength and the proof of existence of living tree." 

( Yuken Teruya, Notice - Forest)

I thought his beautiful creations are kind of upcycling products, because the main material of

his creation is paper bags which we can get at shopping, and usually people discard them.

He makes the value of ordinary paper bags increase. That could be said "upcycling".

Yuken Teruya
LVMH - Marc Jacobs

2005

paper, glue

15 x 20 x 30.3 cm

References
・Teruya. Y, (2005) Notice - Forest . [Internet]. Available from :<http://www.yukenteruyastudio.com/projects-1/notice-forest>  [Accessed 18 October 2013].

TED2- Design for Recycling / Upcycling

 2- Design for Recycling / Upcycling

  When I heard recycling and upcycling, I did not know what is differences between these two. So, I thought I would like to research about recycling and upcycling more profoundly.

   I usually use the yahoo auction, Japanese auction web site, and vintage shops to buy cloths as a customer in a society.  However, in fact, I have never considered  how can I recycling / upcycling my creations I made as a creator. In the future, if I am a designer or creator who make design in a society, I should think about them to maintain industry cycle as a designer in textile or fashion industry. I will look at some examples of recycled and upcycled creations and designs, and consider how can I recycle and upcycle my creations. 




①Upcycling
Upcycling is a kind of recycling, and  the process of converting old or discarded materials into something more useful and beautiful than original materials. 



・FREITAG (http://www.freitag.ch)

FREITAG is a bag brand founded in Switzerland. In 1993, Markus Freitag and Daniel Freitag started the brand in Zurich. Main material of FREITAG bag is truck tarps. 
Now FREITAG bags are popular in the world, because their design is very stylish, unique and functional, in spite of recycled products.

( Markus Freitag and Daniel Freitag,  FREITAG bags)

Truck tarps is used for trucks, open-cars, and roof of trains to prevent dust, wind and rain. In this regard, truck tarps is very durable, and waterproof. 

Using trucks is an ordinal way to transport products in Europe. At first, Freitag brothers were annoyed with noise of trucks. But they were brought up their interest in the course of watching the trucks everyday, and then they have started thinking about recycling truck tarps.

In Zurich, there is the 7500㎡ FREITAG's factory. FREITAG have thought a great deal of three main their concepts, "Quality", "Recycle", and " Zurich" in process of making their products. All processes except sewing are operated in their Zurich factory to make products effectively. Track tarps have been cut by hands. And they also upcycle inner tubes of bicycles  and seat belts of cars. 

In 2011, the number of employees was approximately 130, and they made their products 300,000 per year. Usage of recycled materials was 390 tons truck tarps, 36,000 inner tubes of bicycles and 80,000 seat belts. 

Personally, FREITAG products are attractive products in terms of their design. Most attractive point I think is that their products are one-off products. Design of each track tarps is different, so design of their products is different as well. Sometimes, there are some scratches and colour fade-out on surface of their products, but those can be part of unique design.
In my point of view, the price of FREITAG products seems quite expensive. For instance, the price of classic messenger bags is from €135 to €290. I understand upcycling is fairly costly. However, if the selling price is more affordable price than present average price, more customers might be able to take part in upcycling movement in a society.
Therefore, design is not only important factor for uprecycling, but how reduce cost for uprecycling is also very important factor.








②Recycling
Recycling means  reusing products which were used once before or returning materials used once to original condition.



・PASS THE BATON(http://www.pass-the-baton.com)

PASS THE BATON is a new type of recycle shop in the center of Tokyo. Masamichi Toyama, the President of Smiles: Co., LTD., founded PASS THE BATON in 2009. 

( Toyama. M, PASS THE BATON, 2009)

Inside PASS THE BATON, there is literally everything. There is general merchandise, books, clothes and more, just like in a garage sale. However, it is also like a sophisticated vintage shop filled with the owner's favorites from Europe, and with the addition of the urban atmosphere, the store makes customers feel like they are at a very special place. Costumers could find something special at the store.

Mr. Toyama mention the reason why PASS THE BATON is a new type of recycle shop. He said " In PASS THE BATON, customers who bring in the items themselves play the role of buyer for our shop, and judge which items are suitable for the shop. This place is not just like an ordinary recycle shop; it has a unique atmosphere. 

Also, the items for sale are presented not only through their images, but also by a brief profile of the seller and a short anecdote about the item. I think this makes exhibitors feel like you can not just bring everything here. While PASS THE BATON allows anyone to bring anything, the itema are still judged by the exhibitor himself."

Above image is redesigned items of outlet business tableware. About 20% of the total product ends up with a small blot of iron powder, and usually, these outlet goods are crushed and disposed. Because Japan's production checks are too strict. But that is such a waste. So PASS THE BATON collaborated with Akira Minagawa, the designer of mina perhonen. He painted illustration on the tableware, and PASS THE BATON sells them.

When I go back to Japan, I always go to PASS THE BATON to check items and feel atmosphere of the shop. I think PASS THE BATON is the place to let people act on passing on the baton of culture, not just passing on items. The customer himself chooses the true story to be passed on as his personal culture, or designers add value to what is supposed to be thrown away. This is a place for each one of us to bewitch and relight the items. I believe such a place is essential to maintain recycling movement. 

References
・FREITAG. (2013) Bags. [Internet]. Available from :<http://www.freitag.ch> [Accessed 15 October 2013].
・Toyama, M. (2013) History of PASS THE BATON. Tokyo: Koubundou.

・Toyama, M. (2009) PASS THE BATON. [Internet]. Available from :<http://www.pass-the-baton.com> [Accessed 15 October 2013].

TED1- Design to Minimise Waste

1- Design to Minimise Waste
  
  I think artists and designers who make creations need to care about how they can design to minimise waste in process of design. Because they have responsibility for making creation.
  I would like to think about what kind of methods I can use to minimise waste in my creation through researching creations, designers, and artists related to design to minimise waste.





 Origami Design to Minimise Waste 

  Origami is one of the traditional Japanese hand-made paper-crafts. How to make Origami is very simple. We use only square papers, and fold the paper several times to make complicated structure. There are a significant number of structures we can get using Origami, such as boxes, animals, flowers, and so on.

  Recently, the method of Origami has not only received a fair amount of attention as a functional design mean from design industry, but Origami has been also regarded as a sustainable method, because what we need is only folding materials without creating any waste. I will look at some amazing creations using Origami method.





・PLEAT FARM ( http://www.pleatfarm.com)

PLEAT FARM is an informational and inspirational online platform – a design pasture showcasing the latest in apparel, textiles, architecture, furniture, paper art and product design, with a focus on innovative material applications such as folding, bending and knotting. 

This is Christophe Guberan's creation. He made a printer to design act of folding, which is called "Hydro- Fold inkjet printer". This printer prints out fold line of water on a paper, and then we fold the paper following the fold line by water. Finally, an unexpected beautiful 3- dimensional shape come out.

(Hydro- Fold inkjet printer, Guberan. C, 2012)

   

Computer automatically calculates to fold a variety of forms, and then sends the data to the printer.

・ISSEY MIYAKE (http://www.isseymiyake.com)

ISSEY MIYAKE has used Origami method in his creations since 1980's. PLEATS PLEATS, and BAO BAO are very famous examples of Origami method. 

Although ISSEY MIYAKE is famous for fashion design, this is not a garment, not even fabric. This is a LED light made from plastic bottles, which is called "IN-EI". This right is a series of collaboration products with Artemide, an Italian lighting brand. 

(IN-EI, ISSEY MIYAKE, 2013)

 When we do not use the light, we can put it away easily, and also we can save space.
"Design which lives in life", ISSEY MIYAKE's design concept is reflected in this light.

・Elisa Strozyk (http://www.elisastrozyk.de)

She is a German designer. She created a blanket made of wood.

The surface of wood for making blanket is used special processing to bend regularly.

The blankets are among a larger Accordion Collection, which also include wood pleated into lighting fixtures and origami cabinets.

(WOODEN TEXTILES, Strozyk, E.)

References

・Guberan, C. (2012) Hydro- Fold inkjet printer. [Internet]. Available from :<http://www.pleatfarm.com/2012/04/16/hydro-fold-by-christophe-guberan/> [Accessed 14 October 2013].

・ISSEY MIYAKE (2013) IN-EI. [Internet]. Available from :<http://www.isseymiyake.com/brand/in-ei_issey_miyake.html>  [Accessed 14 October 2013].

・Jackson, P (2011) Folding Techniques for Designers: From Sheet to Form. London: Laurence King Publishing.

・Strozyk, E. WOODEN TEXTILES. [Internet]. Available from :<http://www.elisastrozyk.de>  [Accessed 14 October 2013].

TED introduction

  I believe that thinking about sustainability is vital for artists who create design works, and art works. When it comes to textile design, we often use dyestuffs, and pigments to dye yarn, and cloth. Some strong dyestuffs include toxic substance, and harmful materials for human and also nature. 

 From this, when I use dyestuff, I have to pay attention how much I should use it. In addition to this, I would like to try dyeing with natural dyes of vegetable origin which is safe for the environment and human to make my creations.

  

  

  When I was a university student in Japan, I had woven a host of cloth. At the end of each weaving, I certainly got a lot of rest of warp and weft. I have kept these rest of yarn to utilize for my other creations. Most of these yarns are too short to weave or knit, but I thought that there are some methods to use it effectively. For example, I may be able to make original yarn using the rest of yarn.

  

  When I make creations, every time, I would like to think about which ways and which materials are the best for environment. Moreover, I try to design with minimize waste and simultaneousIy, I need to think about effectual methods to recycle materials.

  In addition to this, I will research about what kinds of sustainable movements there are particularly in fashion and textile industry. And I  would like to find out interesting examples of sustainable movements in Japan, as I want to know how the industry of my country, Japan, copes with sustainable movements.

references

・Textiles Environment Design. TED's TEN. [Internet]. Available from :<http://www.tedresearch.net/teds-ten-aims/> [Accessed 13 October 2013]