A New Paradigm : A Designer’s Quest for Material Reuse and Upcycling

Sammanfattning: 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.