2 _________________________________________________________________________
paradigm
noun
UK /´pær.ә.daɪm / US /´per.ә.daɪm /
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- a model of something, or a very clear and typical example of something.
- a very clear or typical example used as a model.
- a set of theories that explain the way a particular subject is understood at
a particular time.
Synonym model
Compare prototype
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Cambridge Online English Dictionary
3 Abstract
In a time of growing consciousness around sustainability and an early paradigm shift when it comes to circular systems for furniture and interiors, as an aspiring designer, I need and must adapt accordingly within my field and creative practice.
In this project, I have worked with the immense material waste that is going on, especially focusing on furniture and interiors, within the public and private sectors as well as in office environments, where this is a big issue.
Guided by the United Nations Global Goal No 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production, I have experimented with, to me, new ideas for systems that deal with the upcycling and repurposing of “old” and/or discarded pieces of furniture and the material they are made from.
To see what I can make of it to prolong the lifecycle and give the material a new purpose, function, and value.
In my process I have acted both as an interior architect and a furniture designer but also as a sculptor and craftsman since the predetermined “waste” material I have worked with demanded a reversed design process than what a “normal” one would look like for a commercial project.
The result is a series of new furniture designed and made from waste material, revisioned by me through a mix of art and design, to see how I as a designer of furniture and interiors can develop and find my path in this and to help formulate the new design paradigm and aesthetics for future circular and sustainable furniture and interior solutions that is underway.
4 Table of contents
Introduction 5
Background 5
Project idea and question framing 7
Method 7
Design Process - Research 9
Degrowth and the Global Goals 9
Policies and how they can be changed 10
Circular furniture systems and Second-hand 10
Related works and Influences 15
Design Process - Implementation 20
Partners and Materials 20
Form and Surface experimentation 22
Full Scale 23
Adding Colour 25
Result and Design Proposal 26
Conclusion 32
Appendix 33
Exhibition 33
Idea, Layout and Realization 34
Outside of Konstfack 34
List of References 36
5 Introduction
Background
At this point in time we continuously need new systems and ideas in general to try and solve the problems we are facing when it comes to how we’re extracting and using raw materials and how we’re potentially depleting our natural resources. It makes no sense that so much fine, already extracted and produced, material in the furniture industry, or in general for that matter, is being wasted after its first lifecycle instead of being put into new use just because it’s cheaper and easier. This need to fundamentally change, and the notion of cost vs value must be highlighted, for us and our common future.
My interest in sustainability was sparked in my previous project The New Goodies but Oldies, which resulted in some seating furniture made from discarded tabletops from the municipality of Nacka and the Nacka city hall. Tabletops that were on the verge of being wasted, even though the material in them was still fine, simply because they were not needed anymore. This kind of material waste and material disrespect in general is a big problem, especially within the governmental and public sector. To further explore what new things could be made from this type of material, I aim to contribute to new systems for more circular alternatives within the furniture and interior industry.
There is a lot of material being wasted in vain within our field when it comes to used, old or broken furniture and interior products. However, things are now slowly happening, as more actors think holistically, sustainable, and circular. More needs to be done thought and the future role of the furniture/product designer and interior architect needs to be updated and evolved in some respects, I think.
The industry, in Sweden, is slowly changing, through a handful of leading companies, but they often lack the creative and aesthetic sense in problem solving when it comes to taking even further steps in this and that’s where the likes of us designers come in. We all need to work more together. Designers, architects, the industry, clients, consumers, and people in general to shift to a more circular way of thinking in most of our dealings in life.
6 The New Goodies but Oldies project by Daniel Svahn
7 Project idea and question framing
The work with The New Goodies but Oldies evoked a calling in me, based basically on the state of the world and the industry and how we need to change a lot of things to make it better and more sustainable. The new paradigm is underway, but the real work has only just begun.
My work in this project is to continue to work with material that is often deemed as waste. Since my field of work, when it comes to furniture design and interior architecture, revolves much around the contract market and office furniture, that is also my focus now. Even though my ideas can be applied to other fields of design and interiors as well of course.
In Sweden, several companies already work with material upcycling and reconditioning of used or “old” office furniture, and it is a field that seems to be exponentially growing with the increasing demand for sustainable alternatives.
In this project I want to learn from, and connect with, these companies to see how we together can take things even further when we join both forces and expertise from our different yet similar fields. Based on my experiences from Nacka city hall, I have become interested in the material and products that even these upcycling companies have a hard time of reconditioning, and that in the end still risk being binned and ultimately incinerated.
Fueled by this, my project is about how I, as well as furniture designers and interior architects in general, can adapt to and work in the current and future system for circular furniture and interiors. What would this look like for me, in this project to start, when dealing with the material surplus and waste that the up- and recycling second-hand companies cannot deal with?
What can I make of it and what would that look like as new products and/or interiors? And how can I, and even others, work with this to generate new ideas, systems and products that will help to form the new design paradigm and aesthetics for future sustainable furniture and interior solutions that is underway?
Method
I will work with one or even more of these companies that already function within the circular furniture system today when it comes to upcycling and reconditioning. In collaboration with them I want to create new pieces of furniture and interior typologies from the material that even they themselves deem as waste or problematic to reuse for a second cycle.
Exactly what materials I will work with will be determined by the companies I collaborate with and that they provide me with. Since a lot of office furniture are based on “standards”, the material will come in similar shapes and colours regardless of where I am getting it from. Some of these materials include: Tabletops with high pressure laminate, storage units of various sizes and different types of acoustic screen systems.
8 The material, and their pre-set shapes and formats, will be my starting point to design from.
Depending on how much I am provided with, and what it is, I will play around with and test different ideas to figure out what I can create from it. Since it is important to me, and as a set of rules, I don’t want to make too many alterations to the material I get, but see how far I can take it with as few cuts as possible. Through this challenge, I seek to push myself to still design something interesting and hopefully different. Basically, the material itself will be an active partner in the design process and I will work with it, hands on, to design and sculpt the new pieces.
Therefore, the design limitations in the project will be based around the amount and kind of material that I will be receiving to experiment with. It will also, as I stated earlier, depend on my rule of not making too many alterations to the material. This is both to challenge and push myself and my creativity in the design process but also to try and keep the hours and costs down in production to further justify making furniture this way instead of buying new ones.
I will start by sketching and modelling various types and alternatives both by 3D computer models and physical scale models. However, it is in the final full-scale prototyping and making that the true proportions and form relationships will be found and decided upon. To show how I have created the final pieces, I will make pedagogical illustrations that help a user or spectator to see, follow and understand the process.
Depending on the material I will strive to make a collection of furniture that could work both in offices and in other public space environments, since that is my area of focus in the project, but even in a home. In the past few years, we have seen new types of furniture as the line between office and home is blurring. Nowadays, technology allows us to work from wherever.
Adapting to the home will also be a fun side-track to my focus on thinking and elaborating around what kind of office or work furniture we will need, and be dependent upon, in the future.
Regardless of the resulting objects, the project is still about its core idea: to minimize material waste and at the same time make new, different, and interesting creations to prolong the material lifecycle indefinitely.
Furthermore, to push it even more, I still want my new pieces and designs to look “real”. Like realistic products from and for the contract market, and not as apparently upcycled. By this I aim to get my point across and argue for material reuse as the new and future way of furniture production.
9 Design Process - Research
Degrowth and the Global Goals
The backdrop for this project are the United Nation’s 17 Global Goals and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. I have focused on goal No 12 in particular - Responsible Consumption and Production that basically means that we cannot keep on using the earth’s natural resources as we have done and are doing. Instead we need to work with what we already have and find new ways and systems to use it in different ways that do not necessarily mean that our living standards or economy will have to change. Simply develop and evolve into something better. Guided and inspired by this I continue my work, within my field and practice, to try and generate change while working under the degrowth umbrella and with the Global Goals close to heart.
The United Nation’s 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development.
10 Policies and how they can be changed
Both in my previous project The New Goodies but Oldies and this, I have focused on the problematics of the material waste within the public sector in particular, and I want to briefly clarify and explain the intent behind that.
Basically, it is because the public sector is a huge purchaser and user of furniture. With that, it is also a huge material waste contributor. There are lots of clear rules and regulations when it comes to how to deal with the procurement of furniture and services within the public sector.
When it comes to tending to furniture that is considered old, obsolete, or broken, rules are a bit shadier. Therefore, often through misconceptions of these rules and regulations, a lot of good material is being thrown away simply because it is easier than to tend to it in better ways, such as reuse or reconditioning. This is a flaw in the system, I would argue, particularly within the governmental and municipal sector, the ones who should lead by example. Today though, with increasing sustainable thinking throughout multiple layers of society, things are starting to happen that can evoke change.
A good example of that is the Selma Centre Cultural House, made by White Architects and commissioned by the City of Gothenburg. In that project, as part of an extensive sustainability approach, the furnishing of the interior consists of 92% upcycled and reused material, the largest reuse and furniture upcycling interior architecture project in Sweden to date. To pull this off, the visions of the architects and the municipality, had to be anchored in new and unprecedented legislation to let reuse and reconditioning become a legal part of the public procurement law.
Such steps towards sustainability can be taken when people from the field of architecture and design work in synergy with governmental institutions and organisations.
Circular furniture systems and Second-hand
In Sweden, a handful of companies already work with reuse, upcycling, and circularity on a large scale in different ways and it is also a current hot topic within the furniture production sphere. It is a growing field, yet in its initial and early stages, led by dedicated people and companies.
One of the main initiatives is the collaborative hub that is 100Gruppen, the 100 Group, a government funded initiative consisting of a mixed group of devoted companies, organisations, and stakeholders within the field of interior design. The members range from interior architects and architecture firms, through manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, to property developers, renovation companies and even government institutions. They all share the same common goal: to reach 100% circular and sustainable interiors by developing new business models and tools for it.
11 Overview of all the current members of the 100 Group.
While researching the 100 Group, I have looked specifically at companies that deal directly with reuse and upcycling of furniture for new interior projects and spaces, and some of them have caught my specific attention as interesting key players and important cogs in the circular system.
White Architects
As mentioned above, White Architects, one of the largest architectural firms with multiple offices around Sweden, are the creators of the reuse-themed Selma Centre in Gothenburg.
In addition, contributing to the creation of CC Build, Centre for Circular Building and Construction1, they are big enough to be advocates for change and thus have the muscles to so.
In close collaboration and interplay with the municipality, their Selma Centre project, developed a positive change in legislation and guidelines for how reuse and upcycling may be used in the public sector.
These new guidelines are not yet implemented on a national level, but hopefully that will be the case in the near future when more projects like this are being made by more actors in the field of interior architecture and architecture.
The Selma Centre is a milestone in the reuse aspect, but when it comes to the result of the interior specifically, I have mixed feelings. It is made to emphasize the reused furniture and material as a statement, by showing the layers of different material, mixing and mismatching furniture yet connecting everything with an orange “Selma” seal. Personally, I would have preferred to see a more elaborate use of the reuse concept, making the new pieces, made from old material, look more as new ones and not so obvious and self-explanatory. The question why
1 A platform for circular production flows for the building sector and how building material can be reused on an industrial scale.
12 reuse cannot be made to look new, I have also picked up, from other interior architects during my research. This is why I will attempt to meet that request with the new pieces of furniture in my project.
Still, the Selma Centre is an inspiration and an acknowledgement that there is an interest and a craving to make new interior solutions with old and reused and upcycled material.
Examples of the upcycled furniture interior of the Selma Centre.
13 Indicum Interior Architects
While Sweden has had a long tradition of quality control for furniture, and certifications for it, an all-new and previously unprecedented seal is now under development. The seal is called HI, Hållbar Interiör (Sustainable Interior). The state funded work is led by the relatively small interior architect office Indicum, in collaboration with organisations from the 100 Group. It is a quality seal and classification that will mark how sustainable an interior project is in terms of material and product reuse and upcycling. HI is another sign that these issues matter and are important.
Indicum are also the founders of the website inredningsarkitektur.se (interiorarchitecture.se), on which they share stories from the growing field of sustainable interior architecture.
The three different seals: Gold, Silver and Bronze, thought for the HI Certification.
RP - Recycling Partner, Rekomo and Sajkla
In the field of sustainable interior design and furniture reconditioning in Sweden, there are three companies that stand out. They all build their business around second-hand office furniture and the upcycling, reuse, and reconditioning of old and/or discarded pieces of such furniture for new interior solutions. RP and Rekomo, with operations all over Sweden and to some extent even internationally, operate on a large scale and act both as purchasers and reconditioners of second-hand office furniture. They are also interior evaluators, project managers, distributors, retailers, and lessors. All within the segment of contract furniture. i.e. furniture for offices and other public environments.
Sajkla is a somewhat smaller, local yet national, reconditioning operation with a strong conviction to revolutionize the market for reuse of furniture and interiors for public environments. Their drive is the will to create a more sustainable society and a better future by
14 offering a circular business model for all of us who want to change the view on furniture, their lifespan and value.
Today, such companies offer to recondition old furniture, which was previously deemed to be wasted after their first lifecycle, into near new. In this way, interior architects can choose a more circular, sustainable, and better alternative than selecting newly produced furniture. Through the development and visions of projects such as the Selma Centre, there is a growing demand for these types of sustainable second-hand solutions. These companies are now also being granted the opportunity to provide, on a large scale, interiors for larger public contexts. Until just recently, this was not possible according to the laws on public procurement.
A glimpse into the world and businesses of RP, Rekomo and Sajkla.
These companies and clusters serve as an inspiration for me and my project and they are all representatives and advocates for the field I hope to be a part of in the future. I turn to them and their work for inspiration and information since it is my ambition to work with them, in different ways, and I have already started to connect with some of them to share ideas and to get input for my work along the way.
They also help me understand how the circular system works and with that information I try to figure out where exactly I can place myself, with my practice and work, within it.
15 Maybe it could be something like this where I have placed myself, in this simplified illustration of circular systems in nature and production, in the fields of both reuse and redistribution as with product maintenance, rental and sharing?
Illustration showing where I might place myself in the current circular system.
Related works and Influences
Circular design, reuse and upcycling are not in themselves new ideas, I know, and of course I humbly stand on the shoulders of others when trying to continue the work of spreading new thoughts and ideas for alternative sustainable systems. My work might not always be so far from that of others, aside from personal philosophy and aesthetics, but we cannot have enough of good ideas in this area.
Therefore, before I really got started with my physical design process for this project, I had to look at, research and compare my work to both previous, similar and/or related themes, concepts and works to help define my own position and approach within the context, both historic and contemporary.
16 In this research, I have encountered a whole lot of interesting projects and ideas. In this vast arena of influences, I wish to share a few brief examples, apart from the previously mentioned.
The following are other independent designers and projects that have played a big role in my interest for this field and project. In chronological order of birth:
Gerrit Rietveld (1888-1964)
Dutch architect and designer who, as a significant part of the De Stijl movement, used
geometric shapes, right-angle forms, planes, and lines as means to react to the current domination of the baroque in modern architecture of the time (1910’s). The traits of his work, from then and forward, are something that has been an influence, and very recurrent, through many genres in the world of design from back then to present day and contemporary design. I find this particularly interesting since I know that I most likely will work with a lot of plane surfaces and right-angled material so how will my new designs build on Rietveld’s work yet stand on their own?
Pieces and examples of the straight lines and plane surfaces work of Gerrit Rietveld.
Enzo Mari (1932)
In 1974, Italian designer Enzo Mari published the first edition of Autoprogettazione?2. In short, it is a sort of manual that includes several projects and exercises for making easy-to-assemble furniture that can be realized by anyone through simple wooden boards, nails, and extremely basic tools. According to Mari, this is an elementary technique to teach anyone to look at present production with a critical eye.3
This is interesting to me and my work since I have a similar approach in my project. I too aim to make new furniture with few means and from unorthodox material to question production
2 A title that could roughly be translated with “Self-design?”.
3 Mari, Enzo “Autoprogettazione”,Edizioni Corraini 2002, page 33.
17 and the future of it. Like Mari, both as a practical and theoretical designer, I also want to influence and stimulate social assumptions and views on design and the production of it.
Pieces and examples from the Enzo Mari Autoprogettazione collection.
Marie-Louise Hellgren (1958)
For more than 30 years, Marie-Louise Hellgren has been a unique force of nature to the design scene in Sweden, always working intuitively and honestly to solve problems and re-invent the possibilities of different systems for the benefit of her fellow creatures.
For the past ten years, she has been focusing on sustainable and circular development along with product and material upcycling. She has acknowledged that it takes a very long time for companies, and people, to wake up to the problems at hand regarding the environment and how the industry effects it. To change that, Hellgren urges designers and creative minds to become way more involved in different contexts and collaborations to play a more vivid part in trying to solve the current issues we are all facing. And, to let our specific competences be taken more seriously and to work together for society’s best.
Well, I am onboard, guided and constantly inspired by Marie-Louise and the visions I now share with her.
18
“Rosa Puff” and “Lilla Småland” Two material upcycling pieces by Marie-Louise Hellgren.
Piet Hein Eek (1967)
Ever since 1989 and his final exam project, Scrap Wood Cupboards, from the Academy for Industrial Design in Eindhoven, Dutch designer Piet Hein Eek has progressed as one of Europe’s most prominent designers in sustainable art and design.
With work spanning over furniture, fine art, textiles, and accessories, he is known for his use of repurposed materials - including scrap wood and industrial steel remnants.
I can very much relate to the approach in Eek’s work, especially when it comes to making new things out of waste material. But when Eek emphasise the look of the reused material, often sealing it in layers upon layers of lacquer, I aim to transform the material into looking like new.
Another difference is that Eek’s pieces often become expensive and desired collectibles, while I want my works to be affordable pieces of reuse design to justify purchasing them instead of new ones for interior projects. So, we are same but different, yet connected through the vision of making new out of the old.
Pieces from the scrap wood series by Piet Hein Eek.
19 Malmö Upcycling Service (M.U.S)
Seeing industrial waste as a material resource for new products that can be sold locally, M.U.S was founded in 2019 by MFA Industrial Designers Anna Gudmundsdottir (1987) and Emilia Borgvall (1990).
With their work and collaborations, they aim to rethink design processes and to question the designer’s role and democratic production methods. The concept of using recycled material as a base for small scale production is key and generates highly personal and unique products.
I fully sympathize with their work and ambitions and we are not too far from each other, working in somewhat different ways, but with a common aspiration. In this we do not see ourselves as rivals, but rather as collaborators towards the same goal for a sustainable future.
New pieces made from upcycled and reused material by Malmö Upcycling Service.
20 Design Process - Implementation
Partners and Materials
Moving forward, with all this knowledge at hand, I knew I wanted to work with some collaborative partners from the 100 Group. Since my main interest in this project is about furniture and the reuse of material that is often deemed as waste, I turned to the companies from my research that professionally deal with furniture reconditioning and material upcycling.
For geographical and logistical reasons, I reached out to RP and Rekomo, since they both work nationally but also have large offices and facilities in the Stockholm area.
I visited these companies to learn more about their businesses and work. What particularly caught my interest, was the material surplus and waste of furniture that even these companies have a hard time to deal with, and in the end, risk being forced to throw away. This is fine material that cannot really be upcycled and reused in a fashion that makes them attractive to use by interior architects for new interior project, usually because of chipped edges, scratched surfaces or just out of date functions.
Some of the unwanted material that is being wasted because they are hard to reuse and upcycle.
Both companies recognize this as a problem that they do not have a system for yet, and I think that is why they were so keen on my ideas, interest and vision - to create something new from the old and discarded and to have the lifespan of that material prolonged.
In dialogue with both RP and Rekomo I learned that they, and probably similar companies within this segment, deal with the same kind of problems. Certain products and materials that
21 are hard to recondition for a new lifecycle and thus end up being ultimately wasted and incinerated. This problematic material, from which I could pick and choose freely for my work palette, consists of:
Various boards and tabletops
Mostly plain, round, square, and rectangular boards and tabletops, clad with high pressure laminate and with an MDF or usually chipboard core. These boards tend to be a bit torn after their first lifecycle, with scratches and chipped edges, so they are not always attractive for the second-hand customers. However, the “old” table legs or undercarriages are easier to upcycle and fix, making at least a 50% reuse, but new tabletops are often produced to go with the upcycled pieces underneath. Of course, I would like to challenge that to becoming 100% by creating something all new with that material, the other 50% that was wasted in this process.
Smaller upholstered acoustic desk screens and dividers
In a time when the “traditional” office and workplace, with personal workstations, is being replaced by the idea of the non-territorial office space, products for the old functions face a backlash. This is the case of desk screens and dividers when personal workstations disappear in favour of the possibility to work from anywhere. Therefore, a lot of such pieces come to the recondition companies, but no one is eager to purchase them again for a new space since the function is obsolete. They can also be quite dirty and with worn out fabrics that are hard and expensive to upcycle and replace. At best a few are being sold as wall hanged noticeboards but most of them are stored away and, in the end, wasted.
Storage units in all shapes and sizes
With the non-territorial workspace, the need for storage is also undermined. The digital development is also a factor when we simply do not use and store paper documents to the same extent anymore. All is being digitalised. So, the need for filing cabinets and chests of drawers often face the same fate as the old desk screens. The material in these units, however, are often also laminated boards. Fine material that could become something new, but the reconditioning companies have neither ideas nor systems for that. This is where the likes of us designers come in.
22 The problem articles and sorts of material I would get to work with and try to upcycle.
Form and Surface experimentation
Provided with all the material I needed, mostly a range of various sized tabletops and a stack of desk screen dividers, I began testing various forms to see what I could make of this material. I started off by cutting a round and a square piece of laminated tabletop in half and played around connecting the pieces in different constellations to make a sort of table. With just a few pieces, I could get a variety of form results and this intrigued me to move forward.
I also did some surface treatment tests, in my aim to hide, or rather elevate, the semi-shabby appearance of the laminated surfaces. Since my final pieces would otherwise be a patchwork of different materials and surfaces, I needed to do something. It landed in the idea that coating them in solid colours, would do the trick.
Examples from my process with form and surface experimentations.
23 Continuing my form search, I sketched a lot in the 3D modelling computer program Rhinoceros.
To have some sort of cohesiveness in my designs I played with the simple yet fundamental shapes that came with the material: the circle, the square, and the rectangle.
By utilizing them in different interactions with one another, I found a way to give the pieces the feel of belonging to a design family. Still, even in this, I had to choose which ones to move forward with. I deliberately went with the quirkier ones, because they were unlike what I would normally come up with. To find new shapes from unexpected places triggered me.
Continuing my form searching, I played with paper models in scale 1:10 as well as simple illustrations to test form relations and proportions.
Outtakes from my form search, through 3D-modelling, paper scale models and illustrations.
Full scale
With this material though, I really needed to work hands-on, and to me nothing beats full scale testing. So, I started to sculpt-design my new pieces to find the right balance and proportions.
With the simple play of the circular, squared and rectangular pieces of tabletops, my new objects started to come together. But I also had the upholstered desk screens to make something out of.
Even they got the full-scale treatment as I tested to assemble them in totally different, but sort of same, functional contexts.
All along the entire design process, it was always important to me to work with comfort and function for the different pieces. In particular, with proper measurements such as seating
24 heights, widths, depths, and angles while making seating furniture. If I intended for my new furniture and objects to be taken for “real” products, they had to act and appear like that too.
My process of full-scale testing and sculpting to find my pieces and their relations.
When a constellation of objects had taken shape, I needed to place them all together to see the coherency and play amongst them in a group. From this, I could make some small tweaks and adjustments, but somewhere along the line here, my collection was forming.
The first pieces coming together and being tested in a group setting.
25 Still, to further separate the origin of the mixed waste material from my new designs, I had to look into the whole thing of adding colour and to coat them all to have them become even more like the “real” looking products I have imagined and intended all along.
Adding Colour
Since the only colour I had from the beginning was the orange/apricot in the fabric of the desk screens, I wanted to use that as the base for my colour palette. I did not want to do too much with the screens, and I did enjoy the colour. To try and recolour the fabric, or reupholster it, would be too much of an ordeal, so it stayed. The task to choose and decide colours based on that would also be a part of my interior architectural and interior styling contribution to the project, adding that extra value and decorative tactility.
So, I knew I wanted to use colour. But not just one, maybe three, in addition to the original one from the screens. As with all colour choosing, in any project, it is probably the most anxiety filled process. I managed to narrow it down to different types of bright yet sooted yellows, greens, and blues to accompany the orange/apricot. With the final selection of colours done, I envisioned the colourful ensemble, with everything being connected through the material, the shapes, and the colours. Yet, I still wanted my individual pieces to be able to stay on their own.
Therefore, I colour coordinated the different furniture types to try and organize that.
The fun ordeal of finding and choosing colours.
26 My initial plan was to have my pieces industrially coated, to get a professional and long-lasting paintjob. But due to the current Covid-19 situation at the time, it was hard to get the help I needed, so I ended up doing it myself with the spray paint gun at Konstfack. It proved to be a very satisfying and great learning experience in the project. And, for a first timer at that, I was surprisingly pleased with the result.
Me in the process of manually spray painting and colour coating my pieces.
Result and Design Proposal
So far, the project has generated a range of six new pieces of upcycled furniture, all made from previously deemed waste material. It is a first design draft and proposal of what you can make out of this kind of materials. A collection of redesigned and revisioned pieces aimed for the contract, reuse and upcycling, furniture market.
Based on the limitations and brief I set up for myself in the beginning, I have made a collection and range suitable for an office or other public, and even home, environments.
27 The final pieces of furniture all ready and done.
The following are the characteristic six pieces in the series:
A Bench
A generous seating space and with armrests formed by the round tabletop sides.
A Lounge Chair
The more relaxed and comfortable “sibling” to the bench, with armrests and a reclined backrest.
A Sofa/Coffee Table
This table draws attention to its base, with a mix of round and square shapes, that seems to alter when viewed from different angles.
A Bookshelf / Expo Unit
Accessible from 360°, this is the place for all those favourite books, objects, and whatnots.
The different storeys are repetitive shapes, based upon several of the initial material and form experimentations, stacked on top of each other.
An Information Pillar and Meeting Point
Through simple but elaborate reconfiguration of some old desk screen dividers, this new piece has emerged. Now a spatial sculpture to meet around, pin stuff to and have coffee at.
28 A Wall Hanged Meeting Point
Pieces of an old round tabletop, in new symbiosis with two desk screens, make this new piece.
Hanged on a wall, with the table at bar height, it has become a place to have a quick meeting at. Also, with noticeboard function.
Zoom-ins on some of the pieces in the collection.
There we are, and that is my collection and designs made in this project so far. Conceived through open-minded material play and reuse lust. Objects and furniture that together act as an imagination of what this sort of material can become instead of going to waste.
As most of my work, this project seeks to highlight the underlying backstory and process through storytelling. Therefore, I also needed to find a pedagogical way to tell these stories even when I cannot be present to personally talk about them.
29 To explain my final pieces and designs in the project, and to emphasize the process behind and what they are made of and how, I have made collages of simple easy-to-follow, step-by-step drawings, and illustrations. Complemented with a short describing text, I hope they will aid my project and story in becoming even clearer to anyone interested.
Illustrations describing the materials I have used.
30 My step-by-step illustrations depicting the coming about for my different pieces.
31 My step-by-step illustrations depicting the coming about for my different pieces.
32 Conclusion
This project has been an interesting, but also personally and philosophically fulfilling, way for me as a designer and interior architect, to work with old furniture and material and give them new purpose, function, and value, instead of letting them go to waste. This collection is my contribution to the emerging new paradigm for sustainable and circular systems within the interior design field. To work with the concept and process in this project has been so much fun and liberating. It has been a way for me to affect and further develop my own aesthetics and preconception of form and design.
Throughout the process, and through research and interest-based discussions, with partners and potential clients, I know for a fact that the industry and the interior architecture sphere are very keen on these types of projects and initiatives.
Due to the current Covid-19 situation though, I sadly have not been able to take this further with my partners yet, but there are plans. Both to showcase my project with them, and for me to work with them, perhaps as a freelance or employed upcycling designer, to develop these ideas and concepts even further.
If I could do that, or continue in other ways, it would help me address another reflection that arose during the project. This time, I have been free and able to explore, experiment and design all my objects according to my own aesthetics and taste. It would be interesting and different though, if I were to do this for a real client in an interior project, with a specific brief telling about their needs and preferences. Then the outcome would probably look quite different than now. But that is the beauty of this, I think. That the material and quantity of it is only just one piece of the puzzle and that by different briefs, through design imagination and practice of it, there are almost no limits to what you can do, design and create once you get started. The work just needs to continue.
Overall, when striving and advocating for material reuse and upcycling as the future production there is also the greater picture. The thinking would of course need to be implemented all throughout society and even into our private households. But by starting at this end, it might be easier to spread to the rest of society. Through projects and incentives like this and the previously mentioned ones from the 100 Group, politics and policies will follow and evolve.
With the visions of the Global Goals for Sustainable Development to back things up, I believe the political system and government institutions are ready and look for ideas to realize these aspirations. They just need to be courted and pushed to get things started.
The main opportunities lie in the positive effects on our climate and the economy, with potential and emerging new economic systems that may generate businesses and profit with less stress on nature in the long run. Whether we deal with pure upcycling, recycling, and material reuse, or in designing new and smart products adapted to a circular system, there are great opportunities for designers. I believe this is the future of sustainable product design and development and a new way of thinking. A new way of designing. A new paradigm.
33 Appendix
Exhibition
These images here, as the previous ones of my final products, were taken from the temporary exhibition we set up, in the Seminar Street, at Konstfack for photo and video documentation for the extended online exhibition and catalogue. Due to the Covid-19 situation and safety guidelines from the government, the real and public exhibition had to be cancelled.
My set up and styling of my project, however, turned out like I had initially planned and hoped for. Probably, thanks to this situation, I could now show the entirety of the project and objects since I and my fellow students did not have to compete for space in the same sense as we had in the real exhibition, with all other institutions present as well.
For that I am pleased, although missing out on the public exhibition and all the feedback, attention and potential future collaborations that can come of it, it was very sad and disappointing indeed.
Looking at the beginning of our joint exhibition in the Seminar Street at Konstfack.
34 Idea, Layout and Realization
Since my new pieces of furniture are both made of material from the public sphere and made for this sphere, I wanted to show the results in a similar context, like in an interior cross section from an office or other public environment. Having worked will colours, I also wanted the pieces to stand out a bit extra, thus planning my backdrop scenery to be a pastiche or a stereotype of the dull and grey office. I set that up by using the pre-existing white walls at Konstfack and with a thick, dark grey carpet system I borrowed from a supplier.
To bring life to it all I staged and styled the ensemble with props to make it feel homey and inviting. Like a place you would like to stop at and linger in.
Viewing of my set up and styled project exhibition.
Outside of Konstfack
Because of the situation with the cancelled public show, I still felt like doing something. To me, nothing beats a real exhibition where you can feel and/or interact with the displayed works by your own hands and senses. When you also, like me, work with such physical and spatial objects that you want others to experience in real life and talk to you about, a proper exhibition is key.
35 Therefore, I took the initiative to create and host my own solo grad show and exhibition to which I could invite people to see and experience my project in real life. Of course, while practicing social distancing and keeping it safe.
So, between June 1 and June 6, 2020, my solo exhibition was on in a nice boutique space at Bellmansgatan 26 in Stockholm. A space I temporarily staged as a small office to let my furniture tell their, and the project’s, story. It was so nice to be able to do that.
Invitation to, and image from, my solo exhibition at Bellmansgatan 26.
36 List of References
Printed source material
“Reuse Value – Spolia and Appropriation in Art and Architecture from Constantine to Sherrie Levine” Edited by Brilliant, Richard and Kinney, Dale. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group (2016).
“Radical Matter, Rethinking materials for a sustainable future” Franklin, Kate and Till, Caroline. Published by Thames & Hudson Inc. (2018).
“(Gerrit Thomas) Rietveld Furniture” Baroni, Daniele. Published by Academy Editions- London (1978). Copyright 1977 by Gruppo Editoriale Electra S.p.A.
“Autoprogettazione?” Mari, Enzo. Edizioni Corraini (2002).
Online source material
“Cambridge online English Dictionary”
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/paradigm (May 2020)
“The Global Goals”
https://www.globalgoals.org/ (May 2020)
“Återanvänd i Göteborgs Stad - Juridisk Vägledning”
https://goteborg.se/wps/wcm/connect/fc259b3a-0d81-4ccf-bcad-
4cee4d105191/Återanvänd+i+Göteborgs+Stad+-+juridisk+vägledning.pdf?MOD=AJPERES (May 2020)
”Cirkularitet.se”
https://cirkularitet.se (May 2020)
“100Gruppen”
https://www.100gruppen.se (May 2020)
“Selma Centre / White Architects”
https://whitearkitekter.com/se/projekt/selma-stadsdelshus/ (May 2020)
“CC Build”
https://ccbuild.se (May 2020)
37
“Hållbar Interiör”
https://hallbarinterior.se (May 2020)
”Marie-Louise Hellgren”
http://www.marielouisehellgren.com (May 2020)
”Piet Hein Eek”
https://pietheineek.nl/ (May 2020)
https://www.thefutureperfect.com/made-by/designer/piet-hein-eek/ (May 2020)
”Malmö Upcycling Service”
https://www.malmoupcyclingservice.com/ (May 2020)
Image source material
p.6 - The New Goodies but Oldies
Private image and illustration collage. Copyright: Daniel Svahn
p.9 - The Global Goals
Open source image, downloaded from https://www.globalgoals.org/resources (May 2020) p.11 - 100 Group members
Image courtesy of, and copyright, 100Gruppen
Borrowed from https://www.100gruppen.se/vilka%20vi%20%C3%A4r.html (May 2020) p.12 - Selma Centre Interior
All photos courtesy of, copyright and taken by, Åke E-son Lindman Images found and borrowed (in May 2020) from:
https://whitearkitekter.com/se/projekt/selma-stadsdelshus/
https://www.archdaily.com/931981/selma-lagerlofs-cultural-center-white-arkitekter p.13 - HI-Gold, Silver, Bronze
Image courtesy of, and copyright, Hållbar Interiör Borrowed from https://hallbarinterior.se(May 2020) p.14 - RP, Rekomo, Sajkla
Images, from left to right, courtesy of, and copyright, RP / Rekomo / Sajkla RP - images borrowed (in May 2020) from:
https://rp.se/pastaende-3-kassering-och-atervinning-av-mobler-belastar-miljon/
https://rp.se/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/50cdcc1e96a846961facf5e2925203a2.jpg Rekomo - images borrowed (in May 2020) from: https://www.rekomo.se/var-ide/
https://www.rekomo.se/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/cramo-4.jpg Sajkla - images borrowed (in May 2020) from: https://sajkla.se
38 p.15 - Me in the Circular System
Private illustration. Copyright: Daniel Svahn p.16 - Works of Rietveld
Images, from left to right, found and borrowed (in May 2020) from: https://www.italyclassics.com/en/schroeder-table
https://alexiscannariato.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/redblue-chair-1.jpg
https://mozgoderina.tumblr.com/post/169534915003/gerrit-thomas-rietveld-berlin-chair https://www.wright20.com/auctions/2007/10/modern-design/307
p.17 - Works of Enzo Mari
Images, from left to right, found and borrowed (in May 2020) from:
https://www.artsy.net/artwork/enzo-mari-proposal-for-unautoprogettazione-models-proposta- per-unautoprogettazione-modellini
https://www.cucula.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/CUCULA_Sedia-Uno.jpg p.18 - Works of Marie-Louise Hellgren
Images courtesy of, and copyright, Marie-Louise Hellgren
Borrowed from http://www.marielouisehellgren.com/projects (May 2020) Photos by Tobias Lindén (left) and Charlotte Gawell (right).
p.18 - Works of Piet Hein Eek
Image found and borrowed (in May 2020) from:
https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/06/Scrapwood-furniture-Piet-Hein- Eek_dezeen_03_1938.jpg
p.19 - Works of Mamlö Upcycling Service
Images courtesy of, and copyright, Malmö Upcycling Service
Borrowed from https://www.malmoupcyclingservice.com (May 2020) All photos by Malin Falk
Designers, from left to right, Matilda Ulvbielke / Matilda Ulvbielke / Sonja Signäs p.20 - Waste Material
Private image collage. Copyright: Daniel Svahn p.22 - Problem Articles
Private image collage. Copyright: Daniel Svahn p.22 - Material and Surface experimentation Private image collage. Copyright: Daniel Svahn p.23 - 3D and Models
Private image collage. Copyright: Daniel Svahn
39 p.24 - Full Scale
Private image collage. Copyright: Daniel Svahn p.24 - First Ensemble
Private image. Copyright: Daniel Svahn p.25 - Finding Colour
Private image and illustration collage. Copyright: Daniel Svahn p.26 - Colour Coating
Private image collage. Copyright: Daniel Svahn p.27 - The Collection
Photo courtesy of, and taken by, Sanna Lindberg p.28 - Close-ups
Photo (left) courtesy of, and taken by, Sanna Lindberg Photo (right) copyright Daniel Svahn
p.29 - Illustrations
Private illustrations. Copyright: Daniel Svahn p.30 - Illustrations
Private illustrations. Copyright: Daniel Svahn p.31 - Illustrations
Private illustrations. Copyright: Daniel Svahn p.33 - Exhibition Overview
Photo courtesy of, and taken by, Sanna Lindberg
p.34 - My Exhibition
Photo courtesy of, and taken by, Sanna Lindberg p.35 - My off-site exhibition
Private illustration and photo. Copyright: Daniel Svahn
