Editorial feature & review for Design Anthology
This week, Korean brand RE;CODE collaborated with DEKASEGI, the Japanese design studio by Schemata Architects and construction company TANK, to invite designers from Japan, Korea and China to explore upcycling and the reuse of industrial waste.
Inside Dropcity, the new design and architecture hub in the tunnels of Milan’s Central Station, the exhibition questioned conventional lifecycles of material, highlighting notions of reusing and repurposing. As RE;CODE director Kyung-Ae Han explains, ‘We selected nine groups of Asian designers who pursuing sustainability in their respective fields, with a unifying ethos of “creating significant changes together”. The theme of reusing industrial waste was tackled with imagination and creativity through the twelve projects that cover the fields of fashion, furniture and industrial design.’
Read more at Design Anthology HERE
Korean designer Hyesun Lee, for example, referenced the ocean pollution crisis with a version of her Hand Lighthouse project crafted from salvaged pieces of marine debris. The handheld lanterns are sculpted by hand with a combination of recycled metal elements and polished plastic collected when beachcombing. Architect Jo Nagasaka of Schemata Architects and TANK’s Naritake Fukumoto take a radical approach to a common process in the SENBAN series, an ongoing project in which they work with a new method of rotational processing, typically used in the construction industry. For RE;COLLECTIVE the pair presented Magazine Bowl, a functional vessel from used magazines and the newest piece in the series.
Designer Kwangho Lee gave new meaning to old mountain climbing ropes, utilising salvaged industrial waste from textile company Kolon to create Nylon Stool, a geometric seat woven from recycled nylon ropes. Also from Korea, Jinyoung Yeon employed processes of disassembly and reassembly to create Airbag Armchair, a voluptuous lounge chair, upholstered in disused airbags from the automotive industry; while Hwachan Lee and Yoomin Maeng of KUO DUO created the KERF plastic chairs by applying woodworking techniques to recycled plastic board.
Visitors to RE;COLLECTIVE were invited to participate in workshops hosted by RE;CODE, while communal tables, benches and lamps, made from waste materials, offered a space for participation in RE;TABLE, an upcycling experience aimed at encouraging people to take small actions for the environment by creating something together.
images Alcova, Milan
Form & Trace 