1) Please post documentation of your experiment with either kombucha leather or natural dyeing. How did it go? Are you pleased with your results? What challenges did you face? What would you do differently next time?
It went pretty ok. I think the temperature was not high enough, the final kombucha leather is not as thick as I thought. I feel pleased with the results except the thickness. I think the challenge is that when I tried to flip it to let it dry, it could be broken, so I need to treat it gently. I think for the next time, I will try to put it in a warmer place, so it could grow thicker.
2) Write a short mid-term reflection. What has been the most challenging part of the class so far? What have you enjoyed most? Do you feel like you are gaining new, useful skills and practices? Are you doing your best work? What can I do to best support you in class for our remaining weeks? Additional questions/comments/feedback for me?
I think the challenging part is to repair the stuff. The clothes stitches did take really long time and it took much patience to focus on it, but at the same time, I enjoyed doing stitches. Through the work I did in class and assignment, I learned many new skills like making own natural watercolors, doing stitches, using bacteria to draw images, etc. I think I try hard for the work, but sometimes the works were not completely controlled by me, so some results might not turn as good as I thought.
I feel the classes feel good so far. I do not really have any feedbacks now.
3) Please watch the following design talks video on Regeneration Design and answer the following questions on your LP.
1) At the start of the program Industrial Designer Fumikazu Masuda says, “we cannot continue like this, there is no future in mass production and consumption.” Do you agree?
I do not totally agree with it. I feel like in the future, people might invent something that could recycle the trash immediately. However, to be realistic, I do think that people in current society should try to waste less stuff and make the “useless” objects back to functional again. Otherwise, there will be less and less natural materials but more and more trash which even cannot be recycled completely.
2) What was the transformative experience that made Matsuda realize he had a responsibility for what he designed?
He was walking on the Kyoto street and saw some trash there. He was annoyed that why people throw out trash at such beautiful spot. He realized because the new products were designed, the old products would be thrown away. That’s why he decided to develop the idea that designers should not only think about how to create new products but consider about how to reuse or redesign the old or abandoned work.
3) Do you think you would take better care of objects if you had to repair them?
Yes, I will. If I know that my object will be sent to be repaired once it gets broken, I would rather take good care of it. In that case, I do not need to spend extra time to repair it. Also, I will hope my object can last for long time.
4) What are examples of other materials that you could design with today, that could later return to the “natural cycle” (such as the bamboo that Masuda mentions)?
I think wood will be an example for this. Nowadays there are lots of furniture made of wood. Wood is a good material that could last for long time, but also once people threw it away, it could be returned to the natural cycle.
5) Masuda says, “nobody wants to leave the next generation with nothing but trash.” Do you think designers should consider the ability for their designs to be repaired, as part of their initial design process? What else might help create less waste?
I agree that designers should create things that could be repaired in the future, when they start to develop their ideas of products. If it is designed as a disposable object at the beginning, it definitely will not be a long-life design. I think in order to create less waste, designers should try to keep the designed as simplified as possible at the beginning. Also, if it is possible, try to design the parts of objects that can be repaired easily, and the material of the parts could be found easily.
6) What are the two things that Masuda says designers should be mindful of when designing (see timecode 20:00)? Why does he say this is important? Do you agree?
First one is creating something simple which does not use lots of resources. Second is to focus on natural materials. One of the reasons that he thinks it is important is because that Japan is an island country which has limited material in the country. What is more, it can help reduce the extra effort for recycling after the objects thrown away.
7) What are you overall thoughts on this video? Did you enjoy it?
Before watching this video, I never considered that designers cause the people to produce more trash. Now I think that is actually pretty logical, because the new products are overproduced these days, and people like to follow the newest trend. I agree that designers should consider how to repair their products and consider the natural materials when they form their ideas at the beginning.
