Reporting back: Post-Grad Community visit to 'Waste Age — What can design do?' at the Design Museum
- Written byPost-Grad Community
- Published date 21 December 2021
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Post-Grad Community recently arranged a visit to 'Waste Age — What can design do?' at the Design Museum for postgrads. Here, our Ambassador Sonny Thaker (LCF MSc Applied Psychology in Fashion) reports back:
Wherever you are at this very moment, be mindful, take pause and look around for just a moment. Allow your senses to engage everything in your immediate surroundings. What you will quickly notice is that everything… and I mean EVERYTHING started with the power of design. From the chair you sit upon, to the clothes you wear, the transport you take and even to the creams and soaps that quietly adorn the outer layers of your skin — it all began with the creativity of thought.
Now what you may not have considered is that everything that begins, must eventually come to an end. Be it what we eat, the countless items we purchase, the never-ending products we devour and even our own mortality, it all progresses to an inevitable finish. This finish line is where endings and new beginnings become extremely important to us, to our planet and to the existence of every living species in our ecosystem. Fun fact: Google reported that in 2021 ‘sustainability’ was searched globally in record numbers.
Waste Age — What can design do?
If I have your attention and you are keen to learn more, then a trip to the Design Museum to take in the latest groundbreaking exhibit; Waste Age — What can design do, is a ‘must see’ to begin the new year with. The exquisitely crafted journey will be showing until 20th February 2022 so get your Student Arts Pass out and put this at the top of your to-do list.
Curated by Gemma Curtin, this brilliant display was conceived over three years with the team at the Design Museum. It breaks down Waste into three critical areas: Peak Waste, Precious Waste and Post Waste.
Within Peak Waste, we are taken on a journey to discover the sheer scale of the current problem. Consider for a moment that in the UK alone over £140 million goes into a landfill each year. To make it worse, that lovely packet of crisps you are chomping on while you lose yourself in the brilliance of my words (wow — nothing like a little humility Sonny) will likely sit in the dump forever. Yes, forever!
Those plastic and synthetic thingy-me-bob’s that just broke the other day and you tossed out without a care in the world, they all sit in the dumps never quite decomposing in useful ways. In worse case scenarios they get burnt, melted, destroyed and eventually contaminate our food sources, our oceans and our air.
What’s even worse is that capitalism, profits and a system designed for more, more and more has made sure that things don’t last forever — for that would never be commercially viable. Did you know that a lightbulb used to last for many years? In fact, there is one in a California Fire station that has been burning for over 100 years now. Maybe you have wondered why iPhones or Androids seemingly slow down when there are new updates making your amazing device almost unusable. It's called planned obsolescence and it’s coming to you live and direct from your favourite corporation.
Thankfully designers are a clever bunch working to overcome these systems. This transports us to the second part of the exhibit — Precious Waste. Here we are treated to countless examples of how creatives like Ibrahim Mahama and Felix Speller are finding ways to repurpose the endless waste we amass into objects of beauty. While others use clever design thinking to honour what we normally discard, incorporating it as part of the beauty in what we re-create. What would have been burnt to create unnecessary carbon emissions in the making of this design studio, was instead used by architects to bring a unique warmth and transformational quality to the space.
Finally, we arrive at Post Waste where we are whisked into a bright future full of possibility. We learn how designers such as Bethany Williams, Fernando Laposse and Stella McCartney are making sustainability cool. Thankfully we are shown how companies like The Agency of Design are turning things upside down and creating circular product systems. These are designs that last decades as opposed to years. Imagine a world where everything can be repurposed and used again and again and again without losing creative appeal, value and most importantly without destroying Mother Earth.
Sadly it is almost time for us to part. As I leave you, let me share the words of Gemma Curtin, Curator:
With that said, if there is one thing you do in 2022, pay a visit to this exceptional exhibit. It will not only change your lives, but the lives of all of those you share this planet with.
Oh and put down the crisps… they are probably not that good for you. But save the packet because after you visit you will be inspired to turn the packet into a nifty thingy-me-bob. One that everyone will oooh and ahhh at for years to come.
Related links
- The Design Museum
- Find out more about the Post-Grad Community Ambassadors
- Follow Post-Grad Community on Instagram
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Established in 2013, Post-Grad Community is an inclusive platform for all UAL postgraduate students to share work, find opportunities and connect with other creatives within the UAL and beyond. Find out more
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