Aleksandra Kaleta-Pyrek
Service Designer
Sustainable Futures by
Participatory Design
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Design Theory
​The design theory was the project to explore chosen waste material and understand its properties through experimental processes, such as heating, blending or mixing it with other materials and by gathering user feedback. The main purpose of this two - weeks project was to help understand how design can be driven by material experiences.
The material is not only qualified for what it is, but also for what it does, what it expresses to us, what it elicits from us, and what it makes us do.
Karana 2015
A material should also be socially and culturally accepted - or acceptable; thus the material should also give sense.
Manzini & Petrillo, 1989-91
Republic of Ireland is the largest tea drinking nation, followed by Britain. British drink 165 million cups of tea daily or 60.2 billion per year which equates to a huge number of wasted tea leaves.
I experimented with tea leaves waste.
I dried them and crushed or grinded to powder. I decided to heat leaves or powder mixed with other materials, such as coconut oil, beeswax, cornflour, egg.
I applied different techniques, carried out observations and create material samples.
I presented my developed samples to users and let them to interact with the materials. Most of them provided visual and tactile experience.
I provided pens and stickers for potencial users and let them think and discover the characteristics of materials.
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​The sample that aroused the strongest emotions was the blue mixture of a few materials. People reacted to its structure, surface and colours.
I created the material which could be use as a biodegradable ceramic.
I would like to experiment more and try to make it more durable but, maybe, edible as well. That would be my next step. The smaller round pieces, followed by the favourite blue one, could be use as a biodegradable jewerelly.
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