Teammates: Winnie, Yuki, Chengguang, Lili
INDUCTION
This week we started our journey at the green lab to explore the possibilities of algae. Ande from the green lab introduces the whole space for us, also emphasized the star of this workshop -- Algae, estimated that marine plants produce between 70 and 80 percent of the oxygen in the atmosphere.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
They told us about the circular economy, and let each team came up with three existent circular loops. We chose three different categories, product architecture.
MAKING BIO-PLASTIC
Follow the lead of Ande, we were going to make bio-plastic
also, they introduce us to a website that allows us to explore the more possibility of this material.
Ingredient：
Glycerol: 12grams
Water: 420ml grams
Gelatin: 48grams
Mix the ingredients and use pot to heat them, Keep stirring to prevent scorching, when everything is melting and the algae mixture feels really thick, then we can use mode to make it into shape.
CREATE WITH ALGAE
Yuki started with the plastic we made in the laboratory, made some products, like cardholder earings, After we got the bio-plastic we made in the lab we found out there is a little possibility, there are already lots of design related to degradable plastic, so our team all agree to do something beyond the material. We want to include an interactive experience for humans and algae.
We all done some research about "Algae", I find a very interesting design case by Hyunseok An： it is about based on algae's color-changing ability, it will change color from light green to dark green depends on the content of CO2 and O2 in the air, we also enquiring the researcher in the lab about what may affect the color of algae.
''The process of the 16 cells changing in color from white through to different shades of green mirrors the reverse process of coral bleaching.'' (Hyunseok An, 2019)
The process of color-changing :
I told my teammates my thought that I am interested in the color-changing process of the algae, they agree with me, because just material has too many limitations. We did some research about
Focus on education
Winnie suggested we should choose our target group, instead of adults, she wanted to create a design that would make the substance more appealing, encouraging next generation to welcome algae into their home for decorative purposes as well as helping the nature, kids have more potentiality since the theme is about eco-friendly, if we can educate the young generation, arouse their awareness of environment protection, our design might be more meaningful, therefore, we decided to use algae as mediation to let kids get to know the algae. Then we brainstorm the way to combine kids and color change of algae, then we came up with one, using algae as pigments to draw, as we can see algae goods on sale is more like algae powder, which is inactivated, but we lean towards using the alive algae liquid as a pigment,
I used PS to simply show our idea, as can be seen, the color of algae changed with time, which made this painting lively.
Besides, the changing color ability showed this liquid pigment is renewable, even you have a jar of light green, as time goes by, the color becomes deeper when you put some freshwater in, you would have a brand new pigment.
FINAL OUTCOME Algae painting kit
We used cardboard to made several painting frames, and Winnie simulated the strokes of children.
Chengguang attached wet clothes to the frame, and use the algae we brought from the green lab as a pigment to draw some random patterns.
Since algae need a wet environment to grow, so we spay some water to the cloth and keep them consistently wet to prevent algae from dead.
Each painting has a color-changing process as a means of making the algae more aesthetically pleasing. As the color of the cells become more vibrant as the algae grow, it symbolizes the interaction of human and nature.
Algae painting kit
“Algae painting kit set” to introduce algae to children. The kit set can teach children to create a unique and vibrant painting. It aims to encourage the next generation to use algae as a more sustainable component of their lives. It is not just a renewable product for painting, but also a product that can give you an interactive experience.
Here is a piece of fabric material. The way to use this is to draw first，and then when you need to fill the painting with green color, but the fabric back, and fill the green area with the algae liquid. There's no color at first because the fabric's natural absorbent nature gives the algae room to grow, so after several weeks, the algae will grow and turn these areas green. These colors also permeate the paper below. so, at the end, it will end up with something like this. It's a much more natural way to paint green.
When kid uses the algae color to draw, it comes into contact with air it starts to oxidize, which means the green will begin to change color and the painting may look different from one week to the next as it fades, making every painting unique. Also, the benefits of using algae color are to reduce the waste of using a harmful color.
To finish this loop, we thought about how to use the cloth, and let algae back to nature or ocean, as Winnie suggested, if maybe a good way to make this cloth biodegradable, so it can play a role as food for marine animals,
Also, the pens children drawing on the canvas, we also thought about the natural pigments, to complete the whole loop.
REFLECTION
As a student who majored in product design for four years, I have done lots of works and research about eco-friendly when Tracie's group did their presentation, John said, "it's not a product, but about cultural changing, system changing." Sometimes we may need to consider the thing on a bigger scale. The system change may cost a lot to accomplish. However, in the long run, it may finally payback, like circular loop requires but to think the whole circle, rather than one segment .
Comments