Organized by Studio A-lot-of-things (Emma Huffman & Danika van Kaathoven). Supported by colourloop Co., Ltd.
This report on the first edition of the “Design for Circularity” workshop is structured as follows:
The “Design for Circularity Workshop” is a 4-day workshop where participants are introduced to the circular economy and circular design. During this period they learn about the basic workings of the Circular Economy (CE) through a short lecture and engage in a hands-on design brief that focuses on one circular method.
A holistic view of the circular economy is also future-oriented, thus including educating future designers on how to work in a circular system. We chose the workshop format as an educational and participatory research method on circular design. A workshop is a suitable platform to interlace theories and practices and opens up an opportunity to collaborate, improvise and play. Therefore it could give valuable insights into the possibilities of circularity, while simultaneously educating students and future designers on how to make their practice more sustainable.
In March 2022 Studio A-lot-of-things carried out the first edition of the “Design for Circularity” workshop with 5 bachelor students studying Design at Kyoto Institute of Technology (KIT) to introduce them to Circular Design Thinking and offer a platform to practice circular design. During the workshop, the participants actively engaged in the circular design strategy Designing for Disassembly (DfD).
Create your own Design for Disassembly for a one-day home
Literature review has pointed out that design for the CE is often considered a complex and somewhat overwhelming endeavour by designers and businesses. Our workshop is created as an introduction to the CE and circular design for people eager to take on circularity in their practice. The workshop starts with a lecture on the circular economy and deliberately focused on Design for Disassembly and resource collection for the hands-on workshop brief.
The workshop was held in an empty room in the apartment of one of the organizers, which also functions as our studio. The reasons for this were mainly practical, but the informal atmosphere also created a pleasant and open space for all members to work.
We connected a prop to the brief: the flatpack. We designed our flatpack to fit the size of an existing service of the Japanese postal service, known as the Letter Pack. This is a service with which packages of A4 size up to 4kg (including correspondence) can be sent throughout Japan at a flat rate. As the Letter Pack is a well-known service in Japan, it was the reason to choose this service as a reference, to add a realistic and relatable element to the narrative for the participating students and the public viewing the workshop project.
For the workshop, we crafted a simple narrative for the participants to work with: ‘’Designing for Disassembly’’ to fill a temporary space. The students were free in deciding what to create for this space, as long as the design could be disassembled to fit a flatpack; to enable an easy move to a next home, or sent to a recycling company so the resources can be reused. We connected the DfD strategy and the concept of a take-back scheme revolving around the ‘’flatpack service’’ to fit the circular concept to stimulate easy return for recycling, and to encourage the participants to think about the after-use phase of their designs.