In a world increasingly aware of environmental challenges, the design industry is stepping up with innovative solutions to incorporate circular design principles and close the loop on waste.

There is a slow but significant shift taking place in the design industry. Driven by the growing awareness of environmental issues and the need to adopt sustainable practices, designers are starting to look to alternative materials as a solution for reducing waste and promoting a circular economy.

The societal and planetary impact of design was a major focus at Decorex Cape Town 2024. The Circular Exhibition, curated by Anja Joubert and Bielle Bellingham, brilliantly highlighted this year’s theme, Designing for Impact, by showcasing sustainability through the lens of circular design. From bioplastics made from algae to chairs made with waste paper, these are some of the future-forward materials which caught our eye.

Industrial Waste

Made locally by Zerocrete, the Calio Chair is manufactured using non-recyclable industrial waste materials as fillers and a supplement cement material with a lower carbon footprint than conventional cement. | zerocrete.co.za

Wasted Paper

Occony’s Peak Chair and barstool are made from waste paper, designed to be durable, elegant and recyclable. They come in veneered, upholstered or hybrid versions, with fillings of coconut hair and recycled lambswool. | occony.com

Myco-material

Made from a myco-material grown from hemp and timber waste, these lamps by Afrifungi exemplify regenerative and sustainable design. They are fully compostable, which helps reduce waste and lowers the carbon footprint. | afrifungi.earth

Algae-based Bioplastic

A promising new biodegradable alternative to plastic, the algae’s extracted lipids and carbohydrates are converted into polymers and processed into bioplastic sheets.

Cork

Wiid Design‘s Painted African Cork Stool is made from organic, recyclable cork and painted with eco-friendly water-based paints. Cork is a super material that can be used in multiple ways as it’s biodegradable, renewable, impermeable, elastic, a great insulator and fire-retardant. | wiiddesign.co.za

THE GLOBAL TAKE

The recent Salone del Mobile Milano was the centre point of global designers showcasing a range of sustainable materials.

Biodegradable Plastics and Hemp

Made by Studio Samira Boon, which is based in Amsterdam and Tokyo, BioFold is a range of acoustic panels composed of bio-based and recycled textile residues. BioFold Hemp is made of 50% PLA fibres (biodegradable plastic) and 50% hemp sourced in the Netherlands; the folded panels’ aesthetic is based on Japanese origami techniques. | biofold.nl

Recycled Polyethylene

Thomas Heatherwick’s new In-Side outdoor collection for Italian brand Magis is made from post-consumer recycled polyethylene and post-industrial recycled polyethylene. With the configuration and colour of the flakes varying from piece to piece, the interior surface of each one is unique. The collection includes an armchair, a sofa and a low table. | magisdesign.com

Hemp and Mycelium

US-based brand MushLume Lighting basically grows its lamp shades using sustainably sourced hemp and mycelium, a rapidly renewable living organism. In just a few days, the mycelium cultivates a thick network of hyphae that bind to the hemp substrate, solidifying into a solid structure to create a stable, all-natural lampshade. | mushlumelighting.com

Compostable Waste

Designed by Isabelle Weniger, this range of compostable food and beverage utensils has been created for eating and drinking on the go. The material decomposes under the influence of various factors, including temperature, moisture and the presence of micro-organisms – and it leaves no environmentally compromising residues. | islwiesel_design

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Discarded office furniture becomes bespoke art for the 2050 workplace.

UPCYCLE, a unique showcase which recently took place at Maker’s Landing at the V&A Waterfront, reimagines the future world of work through circular design. The exhibition was a collaboration between Sanlam, leading global property advisory company JLL, and its subsidiary interior design firm Tétris Design and Build – a world-class design, build and furniture business.

UPCYCLE saw a group of local makers and artists, alongside a local and international team from Tétris transform discarded office furniture into bespoke art installations.

Each piece of art was assigned a sustainability score, which guides incorporating sustainability aspects at every stage of design and build, covering eleven essential pillars. The artworks were evaluated according to factors such as the use of materials to minimise impact, design to foster improved air quality and water preservation, the inclusion of natural elements and light to promote well-being, as well as innovation.

Patrick Bongoy

The 2024 LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize finalist is known for embracing an artistic methodology that revolves around the randomness and unique properties of the materials he works with. His process relies on actively listening to the materials as they guide and direct him, allowing for a fluid and organic creative approach.

For the exhibition, Bongoy used 80 unused desk bookshelves to create Carrefour – a four-stair structure that fosters a sense of connection, a place where people can converge and exchange ideas. His second piece for UPCYCLE, Sagan Palmier, was crafted from plastic dustbins, bookshelves and old meeting room tables. The towering lamp references the palm tree, which plays a significant role in African biodiversity production and agriculture.

Both installations invited the viewer to engage with the profound connection between art, environmental consciousness, and the power of recycling.

Ananta Design Studio

Sisters Viveka and Rucita Vassen from Ananta Design Studio created a plush ‘sea creature’ for UPCYCLE. The design duo used a discarded office bin at the centre of their playful lighting installation, which incorporated tactile elements like dried seaweed flowers, beaded urchins and fronds woven from old cassette tape by the talented makers at re.bag.re.use.

”When we thought of the future of the workplace, we thought of a playful, sensory, and interactive space. We wanted to create a plush floor seated area – something that stimulates creativity, challenges the current perception of the workplace and acts as a connector to nature,” says Rucita.

Wiid Design

Laurie Wiid van Heerden and his team at Wiid Design created an outdoor sculpture that adds to the environment by offering itself as a sustainable haven for birds.

Birdhouse – Version 2, crafted from recycled office bins and cork, symbolises coexistence and community. This contemporary interpretation of a functional birdhouse emphasises the importance of conserving wildlife and biodiversity, while also reducing the abundance of waste by up-cycling forgotten office furniture.

Hoven Design

Nisha and Justus Van der Hoven imagined the ‘future of work’ according to a job description set in the year 2050. At the centre of their multi-faceted display was the Cabinette – a tiny work cabin.

”The decentralised workforce of the future will rely heavily on a mobile toolkit, which is housed in a customised ‘cabinette’. This functions as a base station to perform tasks in the field. In the case of the Climate Restoration Engineer (a naturalist), the cabinette is an indigenous seed library, a herbarium for preserved plant specimens and a mobile apiary for the rehabilitation of insects,” says Nisha.

Cabinette was crafted entirely from old office furniture – old credenzas, dustbins and cubical screens were used to craft the mobile unit. The Climate Restoration Engineer’s work ‘jumpsuit’ and overgarment was made from the office cubical acoustic panel fabric and barrier mesh the designers found on the side of the road. ”Because we don’t know what the landscape will look like or what dangers we’d face in 2050, we decided to choose blaze orange as our primary colour – it’s non-threatening to wildlife but easily identifiable to the human eye,” says Nisha.

Tétris

Helen Wentzel and Tshepiso Lesufi from Tétris South Africa created Work at Play, a series of rotating, swinging seats.

”We found these corporate workstation legs, sketched out our ideas and came up with this swing,” says Tshepiso. ”We thought about our children who are our future workforce, and what they would want. We created this functional seating system that encourages creativity,” says Helen.

Another creation from the Tétris team was the Oxygen Farm Work Pod – made from reclaimed COVID work screens and plywood. ”This is a fully functional green pod, which is ideal for bringing nature into an interior working environment,” says Helen.

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With their goal of making South Africa the gateway for the circular economy in Africa, the Circular Squared Collective is a new initiative that VISI is proudly partnering with.

We’re killing our planet and, therefore, ourselves… We know this, right? Our consumerism-driven modern society has reached that tipping point where we not only have to make a change, but we have to do it now.

Central to this change is upending our traditional system of consumption – that linear process that extracts raw materials and turns them into commodities to be consumed in the retail space, which we then throw away.

Circular Squared shares a different vision. As part of a global shift to a circular economy, this local collective’s mission is to extend the life cycle of products and reduce waste to a minimum through an interwoven system that involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling. And if you think Circular Squared is operating out of a commune in the Knysna forest, think again: it’s a collective of heavy hitters in the South African design, architecture, tech, brand- development and supply-chain spaces. Founders Sean Weldon (Innovation Group, BrandKonnect, 5rooms.com), Zulfiq Isaacs (Liquid Thought) and Brad Armitage (&Union, Vida e Caffè, Habitus) are supported by an advisory board that includes strategic adviser Tim Harris (former CEO of Wesgro) and philanthropist and social investment leader Victoria Engelhorn.

The Mission

The aim is to apply the principles of a circular economy to the African context through thought leadership, education and scalable retail ventures. Fundamentally, it’s about advancing the idea that everyone is a designer, and that meaningful design can be a transformative tool.

Simply put, we have the potential to design a better world – and all the tools we need are already available. From the manner in which we produce and consume to our relationship with our planet, we have been equipped with the necessary skills to address the planet’s pressing issues. All we require is the desire to make the right choices.

THE PLAN

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN WEEK AFRICA The inaugural annual event will be held in September this year at the V&A Waterfront. It will include a three-day Circular Summit to inspire circular thinking, foster the circular community, challenge designers and producers, and share learnings.

CIRCULAR COLLECTION To be launched at Sustainable Design Week 2024, the Circular Collection will be the first circular retail exhibition in Africa, featuring a curated mix of eco-conscious retailers selling leading sustainable products. In a nutshell, it will be an omni-channel marketplace for circular goods.

TRAINING PROGRAMME In alignment with the small and growing business development organisation Black Umbrellas, a partner entity within the Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation, Circular Squared is developing a Circular Economy Module for the Black Umbrellas SME training programme. Created by Heath Nash, acclaimed product designer and head of sustainable design at Circular Squared, the module centres on design as the lynchpin of the circular economy. This course will be the first recognised authority for circular economy accreditation on the African continent.

PARTNERING WITH THE V&A All of this will coincide with the launch of a plastics-focused innovation lab and makerspace for product development and prototyping, built at the V&A Waterfront.

PLANQ’ING As global leaders in circular design, Dutch sustainable furniture brand Planq will be Circular Squared’s guests in SA during February, sharing their best practices.

PARTNERING WITH VISI Through our print and digital channels, we will be spreading the word to promote Circular Squared’s message and its programmes. They’ll be planting the seeds – we’ll be actively watering them. Whether you’re a seasoned designer, a young product designer, a complete newcomer to the field, or just someone interested in design – and if you’re reading this, you clearly are – then join the circle. We are all equipped with the mind-set required to become agents of change and play a positive role in the planet’s future. Let’s add impeccable design thinking to that mission-critical mantra of “reduce, reuse, recycle”.

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Meet the designers turning trash into treasure by transforming old office furniture into works of art for UPCYCLE: Office Furniture Reimagined

This unique showcase taking place at Makers Landing at the V&A Waterfront on 19 and 20 April 2024 will highlight how design has the potential to shape a more conscious workspace.

Congolese artist Patrick Bongoy, sisters Viveka and Rucita Vassen of Studio Ananta, Nisha and Justus Van der Hoven of Hoven Design, and Laurie Wiid of Wiid Design have been tasked by global design and build company Tétris to create an artwork or installation using donated office furniture items in a direct response to the current office ecosystem that sees furniture often end up in landfills. Their four pieces will be showcased alongside Tétris’s furniture upcycling projects.

The team of designers representing Tétris is stacked with international talent. An acclaimed figure in architecture, interior design, space planning and workplace consulting, Adrian Davidson, Design Director Tétris EMEA, has more than 25 years’ experience in designing luxury eco-lodges, retail and premium workplaces. Before joining Tétris he completed Klein JAN, the award-winning restaurant in the Karoo in the Western Cape for Michelin star chef Jan Hendrik Van Der Westhuizen.

Amaury Watine, Creativity and Innovation Director Tétris EMEA, has an extensive background as a product and space designer with particular interest in innovation, trends and technological developments. His work for Scaleway, a French cloud computing and web company, reflects a forward-thinking approach to space design focused on the end user experience.

Flying the flag for South African design will be Helen Wentzel and Tshepiso Lesufi, both Senior Interior Designers from Tétris South Africa. Helen has more than 30 years’ design experience in the commercial, residential, and retail sectors, where she uses her love of design and attention to detail to create spaces that people find rewarding. From the Pepsico HQ in Johannesburg, to curating the selection of African art for the Roche Johannesburg informal collaboration spaces, Wentzel has an incredible knowledge of local design and materials.

Tshepiso has more than 18 years’ experience in retail and corporate design. With an interest and joy in local design and craft that infuses her work, Lesufi recently completed work for NBA in South Africa and Ethiopia where she worked with teams to repurpose and refurbish 65% of existing office furniture and fittings to create dynamic workspaces that playfully include sustainability best practice principles.  

Each of the designers and artists, chosen by the Tétris team based on their body of work and reputation in the industry, play a critical role in shaping what the future could be and imagining new possibilities for the workspace. The brief was simple: create an installation or art piece from disused office furniture, and then use this creative moment as the foundation to define what ‘the future of work’ may be – functional and practical, or abstract and fantastical.

Laurie Wiid is well-versed in the art of using unconventional materials in his work. As the founder and lead designer of Wiid Design, Laurie is an expert at finding the niche between high-end and sustainable product design. For UPCYCLE, he will be creating a sculptural birdhouse using almost 30 old office dustbins in combination with cork, steel and concrete. 

Studio Ananta is a Cape Town-based design studio committed to fostering a circular economy and creating sustainable, ethical and eco-conscious products. The studio’s fantastical beaded creations, characterised by colour and bold patterns, are designed by the duo and crafted in collaboration with skilled artisan communities, such as the beaders at Monkeybiz.

“We are thrilled to be participating in Tétris’s UPCYCLE exhibition which allows us the opportunity to explore how creativity, colour and craft can be used to reimagine the future of workspaces,“ commented Viveka and Ructia.

Acclaimed Congolese artist Patrick Bongoy is a fierce advocate for using art to give new life to discarded materials. Using materials such as disused rubber, the artist creates new life and symbolism with his artworks, making him the perfect contributor to the UPCYCLE project.

‘The concept of the workplace has undergone significant changes over the past few decades, and the future promises to bring more transformation,’ says Patrick, whose project will involve developing an artwork that helps workers lower their stress and anxiety and boost their performance.

Lastly, Nisha and Justus Van der Hoven’s unconventional and multidisciplinary architecture, interior design, film and exhibition studio Hoven will bring its experimental approach to the UPCYCLE exhibition. By combining their overlapping interests, the duo has shaped a unique process in their approach to projects and imagining new possibilities within an African context – particularly with regards to workspaces. The Van der Hovens have previously been involved in the architectural and interior design of workspaces such as Workshop17’s The Bank, Firestation, Kloof Street and Tabakhuis buildings, where they rethought the future of the physical, digital and experiential workspace and developed new space typologies designed for flexibility, variety and choice.

In terms if of the event, there will be a student-focused day on 19 April and a walkabout with the artists and designers on Saturday 20 April at 11h00, which will be led by Heath Nash of Circular Squared. A designer and serial social entrepreneur, he has been ardently advancing the notion of waste as value since 2004. The Head of Sustainable Design at Circular Squared, a non-profit that champions circular economic thinking, and the founder of Our Workshop, a shared upcycling and design studio in Langa, Heath is committed to social engagement and circular design in all his work.

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This pioneering exhibition taking place from 19 to 20 April 2024 showcases how human creativity can tackle the challenge of tomorrow’s working world.

Upcycle is an innovative initiative showcasing how design can champion circularity and contribute to creating more sustainable workspaces. This project will take the form of an exhibition in Cape Town, presented by JLL, a leading global property development company, and its subsidiary Tétris Design and Build, an interior design firm. The exhibition aims to raise awareness around environmental challenges and inspire others to take action.

“We see a brighter way forward for our clients, our people, our planet, and our communities… we’re unveiling opportunities that create a brighter future for all,” JLL states.

Tétris, which creates commercial environments that are inspirational and sustainable, is deeply invested in defining what tomorrow’s workspaces will look like in our ever-changing society. JLL and Tétris have identified that we need to contend with how the agile reconfiguration of the workspace in the post-Covid world has led to a mounting tide of discarded office equipment and furniture that either languishes in storage, ends up on an over-supplied second-hand market, or worse – in landfill. In Tétris’s view, designers and artists play a critical role in imagining new possibilities that help shape what the future could be, which is why the company has invited a collective of leading creative minds to spotlight the issue and to prompt its own organisation and the broader industry to reconsider their role.

With Upcycle, the aim is to put bigger issues of sustainability and regenerative design under the spotlight in a creative way. A select group of local designers and artists, including members of Tétris’s own local and international teams, has been tasked with breathing new life into discarded office equipment and furniture pieces. With these thought-provoking pieces that will ignite conversation, Upcycle is set to be an intriguing affair.

The select group of local designers and artists include:

• Congolese artist Patrick Bongoy
• Sisters Viveka and Rucita Vassen of Ananta Design Studio
• Nisha and Justus van der Hoven of Hoven Design
• Laurie Wiid of Wiid Design
• Amaury Watine, who is the Creativity and Innovation Director Tétris EMEA
• Adrian Davidson, Design Director Tétris EMEA, as well as two Senior Interior Designers from Tétris South Africa, Helen Wentzel and Tshepiso Lesufi.

The exhibition will be open to the public at Makers Landing at V&A Waterfront from 19 to 20 April 2024. On Friday 19 April, design students will be welcomed for a special student-focused day, and on Saturday 20 April there will be a free curated walkabout with the artists and designers at 11h00. 

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An exhibition titled Love Thy Monsters showcased site-specific furniture to raise awareness about the illegal dumping of construction waste in Dighomi Meadows, one of the last remaining riparian forests in the Tbilisi region of Georgia.

The Love Thy Monsters exhibition, held in October this year in association with the Tbilisi Architecture Biennial, was intended to kickstart a large-scale renovation project. The project is aimed at transforming a section of a derelict power station into an active community space for the local internet radio station, ‘Mutant Radio’.

Love Thy Monsters was conceptualised as part of RRRUBBLE, a collaborative research project spearheaded by The MAAK and Space Saloon. The project aims to redefine the role of resources and agency in architectural production. The purpose of the exhibition was to draw attention to the harmful effects of waste in society and to showcase the advantages that adopting circular thinking can bring to the global design and construction industries. The MAAK and Space Saloon teamed up to lead a group of local creatives and artisans in a week-long process of play and prototyping, using foraged materials from Dighomi Meadows.

The project team, guided by the ‘material intuition’ of what they found on-site, developed a unique range of furniture. Each custom-made piece was designed to tell a part of the story about the long-term environmental damage happening in Dighomi Meadows.

The project aimed to question the role and agency of materials in contemporary creative practices. The exhibition showcased lighting fixtures, shelving units, and tables of various sizes, along with audio recordings, block prints, and physical samples from the site highlighting their material and geopolitical roots.

Guided by the ‘material intuition’ of what was found on-site, the project team developed a bespoke range of furniture informed by hyper-contextual material gestures. Each custom-made piece told its part of the story on the long-term environmental damage happening in Dighomi Meadows and questioned the role and agency of materials in contemporary creative practices. Lighting fixtures, shelving units and tables of various sizes were exhibited alongside audio recordings, block prints and physical samples from the site, bringing focus to their material and geopolitical roots.

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Circular design was a theme at the core of last year’s Salone del Mobile – and we asked Sean Weldon, cofounder of SA-based initiative Circular Squared, to pick five noteworthy sustainable designs.

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of circularity, in a nutshell, it’s based on the principles of the circular economy, which replaces the traditional, linear “take-make-dispose” model with a closed-loop system. More specifically, circular design considers the entire life cycle of a product, including its creation, use and end-of-life phases. It focuses on creating products that are durable, reusable, repairable and recyclable, aiming to eliminate waste and reduce resource consumption – but it also takes this one step further by joining the dots between makers of sustainable products with those who produce waste. It’s about designing products in a way that allows their materials to be continually cycled back into the production process, rather than ending up in landfills or incinerators.

It was also a concept at the heart of Salone del Mobile this year. The 61st “Planet-Centric” edition of Milan’s iconic furniture and design fair showcased sustainability and circularity with themes such as re-use, regeneration and energy-saving. What you see here are the five products that stood out.

SUPERPOP TABLES

The plastic used to make the Superpop coffee tables –designed by Paolo Cappello for Miniforms – is first sorted by type, then melted at low temperatures. This process reduces its environmental impact while maintaining its material characteristics, for a green, circular approach.

VIPP RUBBISH BIN

This bin is, quite literally, rubbish – it’s made from production waste that’s been reprocessed and transformed into a fibre material. A renewable take on the iconic Vipp15 pedal bin, the Rubbish replaces 3.7kg of steel with plastic and sawdust that would otherwise be sent to a trash-burning facility.

MAGIS RE AIR-CHAIR

Originally designed by Jasper Morrison for Magis in 1999, it was the first single-piece chair conceived and designed to be produced with air-moulding technology. An instant minimalist modern masterpiece – balanced, dynamic, stackable, and suitable for both indoor and outdoor use – this new version is made entirely from post-consumer plastic. Highlighting the design’s sustainable mission, the chairs were presented without the addition of dyes during production.

RIETVELD REMAKE

This remake of Gerrit Rietveld’s Red and Blue chair (above, third from left) is an example of work being done by Material Magic – a collaboration between Minerva Art Academy and IHOG. The project uses alternative natural binders such as magnesium and potato starch, as well as hemp fibres, to create new source material.

PEEL STACKING CHAIR

Made by Prowl Studio, Peel is a 100%-compostable chair made from a composite derived from maize and hemp fibres. Its structural frame is made from a hemp-based bioplastic that’s manufactured like any other conventional plastic, but which can be industrially composted. “It serves its purpose,” according to Prowl Studio, “but only for as long as it needs to.”

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