Tackling our ocean waste is a growing concern which we see many innovative designers addressing through modern practices. Considered design is now essential to product development, from the recycling of materials to the impact it has on the environment; in particular the damage it does to our already polluted oceans. Designers have to re-think, re-invent and re-evaluate ways to prevent waste and sustain our natural resources.
Scientists estimate that about 8 million tons of plastic debris such as food packaging and plastic bottles are being washed into the oceans each year. With this in mind, we have put together a selection of our favorite designers that aspire to raise awareness of protecting and preserving our oceans. From fashion lines to interior product, here are 6 interesting projects that demonstrate the beauty in ocean waste.
- Sportswear brand Adidas with British Designer Alexander Taylor launched a prototype shoe with an upper made entirely from yarns and filaments produced using plastic salvaged from the ocean.
- Studio Swine have created a collection called Gyrecraft which includes five pieces that incorporate plastic trawled from the oceans. This piece is named North Pacific Gyre and is made from brass, sea plastic, green abalone shell, rope and shackle.
- Interface have developed a collection named Net Effect™, a product range inspired by a project called Net-Works™ which collects discarded fishing nets and recycles them into yarn for carpet tiles. The Net Effect™ design is offered in beautiful textures and color reflective of the Ocean.
- Studio Nienke Hoogvliet is a textile, product and concept design studio based in the Netherlands. RE-SEA ME is a project aiming to ‘raise awareness of the waste issues we have in the oceans’. It aspires to show the beauty of materials we find in the sea in the hope to inspire people to work with them more often. Nienke creates beautiful leather out of fish skins which are a common waste product of the fishing industry.
- Pharrell Williams launched a collection with G-star Raw. “RAW for the Oceans” is a collaborative project retrieving plastic from the ocean and transforming it into denim. A step-by step-explanation of how they transform the waste plastic from the ocean can be found on their website.
- Bureo creative skateboards from recycled plastic fishing nets found on the coastlines of Chile. Each skateboard prevents more than 30 square feet of harmful plastic fishnets from entering the ocean while providing support to local Chilean fishing communities. The company succeeds in demonstrating a positive, educational and creative way of addressing the growing problem of ocean plastic pollution.
