This element of the partnership focuses on prototyping regenerative luxury through design research across disciplines. This new strand incorporates projects, exhibitions and publications working closely with the LVMH Environment team and LIFE 360, the LVMH environment strategy.
How can we apply circular design principles to luxury tableware? A Maison/0 research and development project 2024.
Maison/0 presents a research project designed to revisit luxury tableware with a circular lens. We investigated alternative processes and material sourcing strategies for ceramic, glassware, silversmithing, and tablecloth design. As each craft entails specific environmental challenges, we focused on dedicated lines of inquiry and have identified knowledge gaps where further research will be needed to achieve full circularity.
We are sharing here the first stage of our scoping study and our processes to adopt circular practices for luxury tableware. We worked according to 4 key stages where design can influence the adoption of circular practices: material sourcing, production, use and post-use.
The project will be showcased at the Future Fabrics Expo, 25 and 26 June 2024.
Design Team
Ceramics - Jeffrey Stephen Miller; Glassware - Lulu Harrison; Silversmithing - Max Warren; Textile Design - Carole Collet and Stephanie Rolph; Natural Dye Consultant - Florence Hawkins; Additional support for design production: -Nidkamon Areeratchakul (Weave), Jo Harrision Hall (3D Design), Nicole Chrysikou (Ceramics); Innovation Coordinator - Lucy Bolland; Photography - Paul Cochrane
Can we source material waste across local industry sectors to develop a circular glass-making process that reduces energy and removes the use of non-renewable materials?
Can ancient glass making processes inform a new approach to luxury?
Glass making is energy intensive and relies on extractive, finite, raw materials for mainstream large-scale production. With this collection, Lulu Harrison has developed a regional waste material sourcing strategy. It also contributes towards lowering the typical melting range of the raw material batch, thus working towards reducing the carbon emission of glass-making.
With the shape and material design, she celebrates the diversity of colours and textures that resonate with ancestral and historical collections, thus challenging our expectation of transparency in contemporary luxury glassware.
Core objectives:
Materials:
With thanks to:
Sheffield/Hallam University Glass Research Centre (special thanks to Prof. Paul Bingham and Dr. Sabrin Samad) for assistance in recipe development, sample batch testing and chemical analysis. Kt Rothe, The Glass Hub and Glass blowers Ben Gough and Abigail Wilderspin. Davenport Vineyards, Oastbrook Estate Vineyard, Westwell wines, Numbers Winery.
Can we revalorise the use of historical paper transfer to replace plastic ‘decals’ used in contemporary printed ceramic production?
Can we produce food-safe glazes entirely out of waste materials?
This collection of porcelain ceramic plates focuses on exploring alternatives to plastic ‘decals’ used to print patterns in large-scale ceramic production to replace the traditional hand painting process. Each plate printed with this technique requires the use of a plastic sheet, which is burnt off during the firing process.
With this collection, Jeffrey Miller removes the use of plastic decals by revisiting a traditional transfer technique using rice paper and waste-based pigments from the steel industry. He has also worked with VSB Technical University of Ostrava to develop food-safe glazes made of waste porcelain tableware and glassware, which can be reused back into new glazes at the end of their lifespan.
VSB - Technical University of Ostrava: Hana Ovčačíková, Associate Professor and Senior Researcher, Department of Thermal Engineering; Vlastimil Matějka, Professor and Senior Researcher, Deputy Head, Department of Chemistry and Physico-Chemical Processes; Jozef Vlček, Professor, Senior Researcher, Department of Thermal Engineering, and Director of Research and Development, MATERIALOVY A METALURGICKY VYZKUM s.r.o.
Can we design luxury cutlery to reduce usage of non-renewable materials and facilitate disassembly for maintenance, repair, and post-use recycling?
In Western luxury settings, cutlery is predominantly made from extractive metals: silver and stainless steel. With this cutlery collection, silversmith and designer Max Warren explores the material and aesthetic potential of upcycled silver and circular timber to design innovative, contemporary, and functional tableware.
Engineered to be disassembled for ease of repair and recyclability, the collection is produced by combining digital design and manufacturing processes with the traditional fine metalworking crafts of hand-forging, fabrication and inlay.
Jo Harrison Hall, Chris Howes, Campbell Muir, Frida Munro, Lachlan Tomlin, Kazuya Tsuji, Adam Hewitt, Sally Collins and the BA Jewellery Design Team at Central Saint Martins.
How do we reinvent the role of the traditional white tablecloth for a new circular luxury context?
How can circular and regenerative material sourcing inform alternative design for the table landscape?
Tablecloths have both a functional and an aesthetic function and have long been part of the code for luxury dining. However they require intensive laundry and ironing and have a direct carbon footprint related to energy and water usage in addition to their material origin.
We present a range of design options that repurpose the interface between the table and the tablecloth to reduce the environmental impact of this historical artefact.
These 4 design options range from exploring alternative materials (organic, regenerative and luxury deadstock) to reducing material use and re-imagining the tablecloth in a way that minimises laundry requirements.
Objectives:
Materials for table (which is designed to travel flat-packed and has removable legs):
Materials for multifunctional napkins/placemats:
Processes:
SÖKTAŞ
For further info please contact: l.bolland@csm.arts.ac.uk