Inquiry into environmentalism,
the roles of materials and infrastructure
01
My interest in the space is spurred on by a series of questions about the material make up of our world:
What does it mean if the things we produce, the products we consume and the environments we inhabit tend to undermine the health of the natural systems that produced us in the first place?
What happens when the existing stack of sociopolitical and economic frameworks remove labour and consumption from the natural regenerative cycles of our planet?
Which seemingly benign objects and materials are evidence of this estrangement?
What does it mean if the things we produce, the products we consume and the environments we inhabit tend to undermine the health of the natural systems that produced us in the first place?
What happens when the existing stack of sociopolitical and economic frameworks remove labour and consumption from the natural regenerative cycles of our planet?
Which seemingly benign objects and materials are evidence of this estrangement?
Project: NG-1 (2018)
I created garment prototypes constructed from bio-degradable fabric, bio-plastic, and then embedded with vegetable seeds. It’s a consumer product embedded with some responsibility: compost or plant your garment, and reap the benefits.
The goal of the garments lifecycle is to create a double closed loop: the decay of the original product (the garment) gives way to another product (vegetables), that again is naturally consumed and “recycled”.
While touching on the destructive food and fashion industries, NG-1 ultimately celebrates the ritual of burial and cultivation — life and death.
I created garment prototypes constructed from bio-degradable fabric, bio-plastic, and then embedded with vegetable seeds. It’s a consumer product embedded with some responsibility: compost or plant your garment, and reap the benefits.
The goal of the garments lifecycle is to create a double closed loop: the decay of the original product (the garment) gives way to another product (vegetables), that again is naturally consumed and “recycled”.
While touching on the destructive food and fashion industries, NG-1 ultimately celebrates the ritual of burial and cultivation — life and death.
Investigating Biomaterials
02
Exit, Nois Rec.
Looking into materials that can participate in natural cycles easily and readily, I began employing biomaterials into design projects. Depicted here are process images from an ongoing project for Nois Rec.’s physical release of the album Exit.
The themes in the music relate to life cycles, so creating CD packaging that had it’s own life cycle felt appropriate. Furthermore, the CD is practically dead. This case doubles as a casket for the format.
I’m currently collaborating with Kineco to produce the cases.
The themes in the music relate to life cycles, so creating CD packaging that had it’s own life cycle felt appropriate. Furthermore, the CD is practically dead. This case doubles as a casket for the format.
I’m currently collaborating with Kineco to produce the cases.
Inquiry into the conflict between ecology, economy, and culture
03
of a single plastic keyboard key.
Reading Ian McHarg, Buckminster Fuller, and learning about Material Cultures’s investigations into hyper-local, regenerative construction solutions has opened me up to systems-level ecological and economic dialogue.
It seems that access to real stewardship-forward programs exist beneath the layers of sustainability and “circular economy” initiatives backed by corporations and industries that benefit directly from existing production and supply-chain frameworks. Carbon offsetting, recycled shoes, etc.
Within this realm, what’s fascinating to me is how the shape of contemporary material production apparatuses shape our built environments, which in turn shapes how we move, our sense of belonging, so on and so forth. Being exposed to this notion—seeing how structural forces structure our world—is as enlightening as it is upsetting.
My main questions are:
It seems that access to real stewardship-forward programs exist beneath the layers of sustainability and “circular economy” initiatives backed by corporations and industries that benefit directly from existing production and supply-chain frameworks. Carbon offsetting, recycled shoes, etc.
Within this realm, what’s fascinating to me is how the shape of contemporary material production apparatuses shape our built environments, which in turn shapes how we move, our sense of belonging, so on and so forth. Being exposed to this notion—seeing how structural forces structure our world—is as enlightening as it is upsetting.
My main questions are:
-
How do we initiate socio-ecological production models (or support existing and emergent ones) that operate outside of dominant production frameworks?
- What are the structural, cultural, and aesthetic byproducts of contemporary manufacturing and supply processes? How does the way we make things make us?
- How can systems-level consciousness—material awareness—be injected into contemporary culture?
Regenerative manufacturing
Biomaterial Symbiosis
04
construction solutions
While searching for ecologically beneficial and regenerative production models, I began researching Material Cultures, meeting folks at Metabolic Studio, and sketching a couple ideas.
More questions follow:
Can we make the things we need, while supplying the environment with what it needs? What if that just means emulating “production models” that exist in nature already? What does forming an alliance between ecology and production look like?
Is there a way to steward a mutually beneficial relationship between two living things that yields material which could be used to create everyday necessities like clothing building materials, and food?
More questions follow:
Can we make the things we need, while supplying the environment with what it needs? What if that just means emulating “production models” that exist in nature already? What does forming an alliance between ecology and production look like?
Is there a way to steward a mutually beneficial relationship between two living things that yields material which could be used to create everyday necessities like clothing building materials, and food?
Biomaterial Symbiosis
I began attempting to answer some of these questions through a speculative material production model I’m calling Biomaterial Symbiosis. Firstly, this is a creative, more kinesthetic way to investigate the above questions for myself. Therefore, it’s very much a working idea—with a growing repository of data and research supporting project feasibility.
Does something like this exist? Maybe. Is it impossible? Possibly. Either way, here’s what’s happening in the sketches:
The model
I began attempting to answer some of these questions through a speculative material production model I’m calling Biomaterial Symbiosis. Firstly, this is a creative, more kinesthetic way to investigate the above questions for myself. Therefore, it’s very much a working idea—with a growing repository of data and research supporting project feasibility.
Does something like this exist? Maybe. Is it impossible? Possibly. Either way, here’s what’s happening in the sketches:
The model
- This model connects a hemp farm and hemp processing facility with a mycelium production site, both linked by a central Waste-Energy-Resource System (WERS).
- The production of hemp textiles leave byproducts that become substrate for mycelium composite growth; mycelium waste is returned to the soil to nourish hemp crops used for textiles and other products. WERS transforms all organic waste from both sites into raw material or energy through composting, digestion, and pyrolysis, generating power and value from production waste. This model would produce biodegradable textiles, building materials, and packaging in a closed-loop, independently regenerative manufacturing system.
Conclusion
The above offers speed-run through some of the topics and issues I’ve
been engaged with.
In the context of my current professional background—graphic design, strategy, art direction—I would love to work with your team(s) to develop productive relationships between important socio-ecological initiatives and contemporary culture.
In the context of my current professional background—graphic design, strategy, art direction—I would love to work with your team(s) to develop productive relationships between important socio-ecological initiatives and contemporary culture.
Thank you
Alex