Design with a conscience

How the Stockholm Design Week is leading the path towards a Zero Waste design practice .

The 18th edition of the Stockholm Design Week took place on the 4th of February this year, during this week, an array of events can be enjoyed across the Swedish capital by designers, critical thinkers and the culturally curious. The highlight of the event is certainly Stockholm Light & Furniture Fair held at Stockholmsmässan in Älvsjö, which planted the seeds for the international design festival in early 2002.

This year, the week-long festival wanted to challenge its international audience questioning what is the place of design practice and design thinking in the current landscape of activist movements and realisation of the effects of capitalism in our society.

This angle was made clear by the performance Hurry Up Before We Collapse held at the Furniture Fair, where students from the BA in Design +Change from the Linnaeus University dressed up in Coral onesies and used their bodies as representing alive objects. Their exhibition/performance was a vehicle to denounce the consumerist culture of our society and the unequal power structures it is based upon; therefore, the link between people, the planet and its inhabitants is stressed out by the physical use of the performer’s body as a bench, upon which the public could even sit.

As the most important week of Scandinavian Design is coming to an end, we point out what are the most sustainable design products showcased at the fair.

Here are the 3 best design products that combine style with a Zero Waste goal:

A school chair made from recycled discarded fish nets, harnessing the plastic waste of the fishing industry. Made by Snohetta an international design practice in collaboration with NCP, a Norwegian Furniture brand with an environmental outlook.

A collection of mats made from

100% recycled plastic. Combined with timeless designs made by some of Norway’s leading designers, their mats will last for a long time, thus reducing the environmental footprint.

The first ever design recycling furniture to sort waste in an elegant way. It suits a stylish house due to its Nordic clean lines. The Ecosmol high quality recycling station made by Niimaar, a young, fresh female-led company from Finland designing for Zero Waste lifestyle

The innovation in product design are the symptom of Scandinavian countries finding solutions to world problems through design practice and leading towards a future aimed at making up for the mistakes of the past, through recycling materials and a zero waste approach.

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