Recycling and reimagining daily life products: GREEN GRADS presented 24 sustainable projects with cutting-edge solutions for a greener future.
Green Grads' Projects For A Sustainable Living
24 Green Grads just revealed in a free show at the Yorkton Workshops, the East London gallery of design agency Pearson Lloyd, their cutting-edge solutions for the future. They are all recent graduates of UK universities from as far apart as Falmouth and Glasgow and they came to London to showcase their “ideas to heal the planet.”
These Green Grads specialised in a wide range of disciplines, from art to engineering, including product and furniture design, materials innovation, animation, graphics, ceramics, glass, textiles, fashion, interior design and architecture. Attention to the environment is the core of all the projects, which span from inventing new materials, designing to last, eliminating and reducing waste, restoring and repairing, and recycling and creating a circular economy. They capture carbon, save energy, fight pollution, conserve resources, foster local production and/or rescue endangered species.
“Our vision is to fuel UK environmental action with new talent from UK universities,” said curator Barbara Chandler, who founded GREEN GRADS in 2021. “Ideas from the Green Grads vary widely, with some projects already up and running and others set to go. You will find ‘leathers’ from seaweed, vessels from eggshells, a repairable kettle, ‘smart’ blinds that automatically adjust to heat and light – and on the wilder side, a dress made from tea leaves, and jewellery grown from slime mould. Given that up to 80% of a product’s environmental impact is determined at the design stage (according to the Design Council), this is a crucial show. Our Green Grads are the responsible designers of the future with ideas to heal the planet.”
Top Innovative Projects From The GREEN GRADS
Gabriel Kay has designed a multi-award-winning repairable kettle, with parts that can be swapped or replaced. “E-Waste is a growing problem globally, and as designers, we are partly responsible for this crisis. We cannot ignore the impact of our work and repair could be our salvation,” said this young designer from De Montfort University.
Green Grad Lewis Broughton has designed ModuRun, a revolutionary shoe that comes apart. With around 300 million pairs of running shoes thrown away each year in the UK alone, shoes pose a real challenge to the recycling chain. They cannot be recycled because they are stuck together with glue. The young graduate stated: “(ModuRun) can be adapted for different terrains and recycled and reused at end of life.”
Project RAW (renewable agricultural waste) by Yohaan Kukreja and Ankita Khanna is a bio-composite made from the rice straw otherwise burnt in huge quantities every year by farmers in India, where it causes deadly pollution. Their new material is strong and flexible and has many applications, including footwear, which the duo have already explored.
Green Grad Conor McArthur has already used his “seaweed leather” (branded Kelpworks) to build shelters for festivals and events. “These temporary structures are typically made from extractive materials and generate significant waste”, as the graduate explained. He hung his seaweed experiments on a clothesline in the courtyard of Yorkton Workshops, with tags to explain different types and properties, with samples nearby of his material stitched, laser cut, engraved and or printed.
Green Grad Josephine Drew created beautiful delicate bowls out of discarded eggshells, originally collected from her university’s catering services.
About GREEN GRADS
GREEN GRADS, now in its fourth year, was founded in 2021 by design editor Barbara Chandler, shortly to be joined by co-director and show producer Michael Czerwinski of Studio Tucktite. The initiative has highlighted the work of 200 Green Grads across UK universities so far.
GREEN GRADS put on their own shows, host a website and YouTube channel, and hold numerous salons, seminars, pop-ups and the occasional party! They are also invited to other peoples' shows such as Grand Designs Live, the GNCCF in Manchester, the Surface Design Show, and Craftworks.
Other Revolutionary Eco-friendly Designs
Ella Sainsbury has fittingly made biodegradable packaging for wine bottles from wine-making waste - such as skins, seeds and stalks.
Reeti Roy has made an alternative vegan “leather” which can also be printed or even embroidered.
Rob Downward experimented with multiple natural materials to find the strength and texture he wanted for his furniture until he created sturdy flexible cylinders made from hemp to support hardwood tops from a timber merchant’s discards with potato starch used as a binder.
Saima Fateh has invented vertical window blinds from smart materials that automatically adjust to changes in temperature and light with no electrics needed.
Yihan Dong is the mind behind The Re-block project to transform construction waste into a material similar to concrete.
Some projects are still concepts but challenge how we might consider and source materials in the future. Mengyan Guo, for example, has fashioned her ethereal “TeaFab” dress out of a tealeaf-derived textile, while jeweller Louis Wright has “grown” a necklace and earrings from slime mould for his dramatic "Organic Opulence" collection.
Thinking outside the box is key in these promising graduates' work and ideas to "heal the planet". To know more about their projects and follow GREEN GRADS activity, head over to the official website and Instagram account.
