Image Credit : Gomi Design
Project Overview
The first product from Gomi Design is a revolutionary Bluetooth speaker made from plastic trash that would otherwise end up in landfill or the oceans.
Organisation
Project Context
Plastic waste makes up 85% of the pollution on beaches around the world, and every year the UK alone throws away 300 million kilos of flexible plastics. Flexible plastic (LDPE) consists of plastic bags, bubble wrap and pallet wrap, which are all not accepted by UK councils for recycling.
Gomi Design won £10,000 from the Environment Now Programme to kickstart the project in January 2018, with further funding from the Santander Big Ideas Competition in June 2018.
Project Innovation
The speaker is made from three modular marbled-plastic components, and is made using a combination of traditional craft techniques and digital fabrication.
The speakers are hand-marbled, which means that every product has its own individual aesthetic. Each speaker takes equivalent of 100 plastic bag worth of flexible plastics to make.
The products are designed to be modular, so they can be separated easily, and the plastic components can easily be melted into new components for future products - without losing any material value.
Design Challenge
The central question this project set to answer was: is it possible to design a product which could actually clean up the environment through its product life-cycle - contrasting the norm of everyday products produced and discarded in today's fast-paced world.
Sustainability
The plastic used for the speakers is collected from households, commercial premises, and the beaches of Brighton — saving 100 plastic bags per finished speaker from being sent to landfill, or otherwise affecting the environment.
Commercial - Object
Commercial projects recognises that design is the means to create meaningful experiences for users, create value for people and drive profit for businesses.
The object category celebrates creative and innovative design for an object or product. Consideration is given according to the design context and need, design innovation and the application of human centred design principles.
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