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TIFF Hosts the Next Generation of Ingenious Design
- www.purebyamimckay.com
- June 30, 2010
Thailand is the hub of thoughtful, quality production in the Asian economy. The 2010 Thailand International Furniture Fair was an impressive showcase of the latest innovations in green living design. OSISU is making waves across the globe, developing the frontiers of ecologically sound design, but there are other companies in Thailand whose considered, conscious choices are making a positive, sound impact on the sustainable furnishings industry.
Pineapple Paper Bench by Yothaka
Of the many, many brilliant concepts featured at this year’s fair, there were a few which truly set themselves apart. Yothaka is renowned for using easily renewable, fast growing agricultural fibres, including Water Hyacinth and Yan Lipao. They are now making incredible “New Asian Style Concept Furniture” out of Pineapple Fibre paper.
Terra Motif Lifestyle’s quality woven furniture speaks for itself. There are five lines to compliment the five elements earth, water, wood, metal and fire, and while they are woven from a variety of materials, including wicker, the company also uses re-cycled plastics to give new life to post-consumer goods. The Bua Bhat factory produces beautiful, artistic, hand-hooked rugs in a new concept factory which is very healthy and holistic in its approach. The designs are gorgeous, and they are made in a factory with a 20-year history of eco-stewardship. All the fibres used in production are salvage edge, reducing waste, the factory is integrated into the natural environment, and the people who live and work there enjoy a beautiful, high standard of life. If it is not the way of the future, it should be!
Innovative design was the order of the day at the TIFF, but one man`s passion is the crown jewel of eco-forward thinking. Dr Singh Intrachooto mines our modern waste streams to produce valuable, viable building materials. He says “I started reclaiming construction debris in 2005 after witnessing tons of waste being hauled away from my own construction sites, even when these projects were classified as eco-friendly. It was embarrassing to be lecturing about eco-responsible design while witnessing the amount of leftover materials from my own work.” In an industrial economy, thirty-two truckloads of waste are created for every single truckload of product with lasting value. Dr Singh, who holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Design Technology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), felt compelled to do something about the waste, so he created the Scrap Lab, where he put some of Thailand`s finest minds to work on developing ingenious new materials and products out of industrial, agricultural and building construction site wastes. That lab evolved into OSISU, Thailand’s leading eco-design production house.
It`s brilliant. Dr Singh uses only materials which have no value, so for example, he uses no plastic bottles, aluminum cans, or newspapers, because they each have value as recyclable materials. The intent is to reduce the amount of waste headed for incinerators and landfills, so he looks for materials which are not yet re-cycled, and he up-cycles them. For example, he discovered a large number of chip bags on campus, so he mulched them, applied heat and created a compressed board substrate. This material is perfect for the manufacture of all sorts of things, including cabinets, shelves and furniture, and Dr Singh’s product is actually much healthier than the formaldehyde laden particle board ubiquitous in today’s world. It makes perfect sense, doesn`t it?
The original concept was to move the waste material from its point of origin to a separate facility, where it would be turned into something useful, but that, too, has evolved. It is far more effective (and less carbon-emission costly) to reclaim materials on site, and so that’s what is happening in Thailand now. One great example of this is Deesawat. Deesawat is an award winning manufacturer of fine furniture, textiles, decking, flooring, doors, and more. They are very forward thinking. Their products are shipped to the US in shipping containers, and since the containers must make the return Journey, Deesawat fills them with end-cuts and other leftover wood from American mills, and then they manufacture a number of interesting things from the wood, including beautiful antiqued floor paneling and the award winning lights pictured below, called Lamp Up.
Lamp Up by Deesawat
The whole concept is stunningly simple, and yet powerfully effective. It reduces the amount of waste we either dump or burn, and it also reduces the need to extract more raw materials from the environment to manufacture new products. It is a simple approach which can be effectively applied to any industry, and certainly it is worth exploring here in Canada. Dr Singh’s passion for the planet is definitely one of the hottest things happening in eco-design in the world today. Let’s hope it is contagious.
Dr. Singh Intrachooto is Design Innovation Ambassador for Thailand’s National Innovation Agency. He received Thailand’s Emergent Designer of the Year 2007 Award, Elle Décor’s Designer of the Year 2007 as well as Top Environmentalist 2008 Award from Thailand’s Department of Environment.
Posted with permission of the author
I just saved your post for when I get another piece of furniture. Thanks for the ecofriendly supplies! I didn’t know about most of them.
I enjoyed reading this blog post! Keep up the fantastic work.