MAD - Ecodesign

This is a graduation project by industrial designer Thomas Bilas. We all have mono functional tools piled up in our kitchen cabinets, that, in general, we never use for more than two minutes every day. This innovative proposal, still under construction, demonstrates the designer’s role and potential within our consumer society.

This haute couture library proposes a new approach from a sector with a heavy impact on the environment. Here, people can hire quality garments made by Belgian designers at an affordable price while minimising their environmental impact.

An international community of designers, growing everyday, uses this platform to sell their furniture plans in digital format all over the world. The consumers can then have them produced in workshops near where they live.

Anna Balez created Tale Me in 2014. This subscription service home delivers a box containing children’s clothes or maternity clothes. These are quality items, respecting health and the environment and created locally. The subscriber is then invited to resend them and renew the operation every two months according to their choice of subscription (number of pieces, duration, etc.). This is in response to the problem of clothing that rapidly becomes obsolete while supporting local and sustainable creation.

In addition to designing office furniture based on its clients’ existing furnishings and materials, Nearly New Office Facilities offers planning, interior design, removal and storage services in order to provide a complete sustainable alternative to business relocations.

Pioneer in the fashion sector, Martijn van Strien, works with different creators from Antwerp to design clothes and allow consumers to download the pattern digitally, with the aim of getting them produced in local digital workshops.

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Inspired by car sharing, Buggy Booker proposes a hiring service for children’s pushchairs at certain strategic urban points, such as train stations. Besides being a practical solution for parents that want to go on outings, it combines perfectly with the use of public transport.

Environmental challenges are significant for the denim industry. Atelier Noterman addresses this with Denim Detox, whose production requires 80% less energy, water and toxic products.

A project based in the Netherlands, Fairphone proposes a telephone that is ethical and sustainable. Sustainable, as it is conceived to be durable and modular at once. It can be dismantled so that the consumer can replace broken parts or upgrade them themselves. Ethical, as the company assumes its responsibilities. They control the working conditions of the people participating in their production chain and trace the origin of the minerals that make up the phone to ensure that they support communities, often in conflict zones, in a responsible way.

With their collection 'front runners', this Swedish design house is a model for eco-design within the fashion world: this goes from using recycled materials to the finishing elements, including the transport, the traceability and the transparency that  demonstrates in the production of her products.