OUGD504 - Studio Brief 2 - Theme Brainstorm

Upcycling Theme 

Main ideas considered within the theme were:

Focus on sourcing reclaimed materials

It was considered that reclaimed materials can be used for a variety of different things within different sectors including building, craft, design. Reclaimed materials can be used to make new types of materials with different properties like on materia. Reclaimed materials can be found on the internet from sources such as Gumtree and Ebay or in charity shops, salvage yards, bins or community projects. It was considered that recycling plants have huge amounts of good materials that can be used so perhaps a shop could be created to allow people to use materials from these sites? Types of reclaimed materials varies hugely and includes metal, wood, fabric, paper etc. 

Focus on upcycling projects 

Creating something with a focus on projects for the use of reclaimed materials would promote reuse of waste products. These could be things to make with spare materials / easy to find things as a way of getting people to consider how and what they do with things around them. Often reclaimed materials are cheaper than buying new so it also has financial benefits to be more creative, perhaps this could be explored (e.g. focus on projects that use household items / waste)? Making things with cheap materials adds value to the original material so the end product is worth more making it a money saving technique. There could be a focus on techniques and skills that people can use on different materials similar to Martha Stewart. Another aspect could be a source of inspiration showing people things that have been created with used materials. 

Other things that were considered:

Existing things:

Reclaimed materials can be found in charity shops, social enterprises such as Revive Leeds and salvage yards.
Inspirations sites for projects include Pinterest, Ikea Hacks and Martha Stewart.
Materia is a site that focuses on designers who are creating new materials from waste products.
Eccmmerce sites such as Ebay, Etsy and Gumtree allow people to buy and sell goods both used and new. Could this format be adapted for reclaimed materials?
Social Enterprise sites such as Freecycle allow people to exchange goods for nothing whilst To good to go allows people to get left over food for reduced prices reducing waste to landfill.  

Ecommerse vs Social Enterprise

The site could be either a eccommerse or social enterprise however both have different functions. Eccommerce relies on the buying and selling of goods whilst a social enterprise can be giving for free, trading or not for profit setup. Eccomerce is based on ratings and reviews and is usually more global whilst a social enterprise is usually more local and creates a sense of community.