Upcycling unwanteds

Rationale

For this project I have chosen to upcycle used wine or champagne corks as I found possibility in using it to create interesting and upmarket products. I was also amazed by the amount of disposed cork the councils collection drop offs manage to get on a yearly basis. From statistics, 13million wine corks are distributed throughout the world and are only used once and disposed of afterwards. Some restaurants collect them however most still send them off the landfills. So by diverting large quantities of used cork from the landfills to up marketed products I thought it would be nice to keep the natural wood like appearance of the cork and make a design which reflects its natural form. Its natural given cushioning characteristics also dictates its usage which is also later emphasised by its form and size; limiting it to its specific designed usage.

I chose an accessories or coin plate as the final product to make. From experiences of others as well as my own; we realise as we get home the first thing one would do is empty their pockets (especially males however it’s not limited to males) . Drop the mobile, empty the excess coins, keys and many more. These items often become misplaced and we can find them. This could be defined as a habitual problem more than anything else. So what if a product can change our habits?

I centred the idea about a hive, the essence of it really is to become a nest; a place where everything returns. Its appearance is also designed to reflect a hive of sort, following organic shapes and natural tessellations I believe would fulfil its meaning as well as save the cork from being rubbish. The rounded off outside defines the shape more as a resolution to define its shape also helps emphasis the more interesting pattern of the inside. The honeycombed and contour like inside doesn’t make the bowl hard to use, its purpose is to hold coins, mobiles and others, the levels actually make it easier for one to grab coins and sit a mobile up like a stand as opposed to the conventional smooth wooden bowls which make everything slide awkwardly into the centre.

The location of this product is also important, by its form and usage the Hive is limited to table tops of either; at your front door entrance or the living room where one would most likely unload our pocket or baggage items.

To manufacture would take a few processes. Today we have the aid of computer CNCs, mills and laser cutting technologies. The cork would be sorted by their size so they can later be cut into a standard piece to fit the complete puzzle like pattern. Howewer this was difficult through making the actual product as the knife blades did not follow the straightness through the whole way which caused awkward angles. The design problem could possible be resolved by having set tools and machinery (ie CNC mills or tool cutters) which can create stradardised piece. However due to the variations in sizes some larger piece would be cut off to become very small just to be standardised also loosing some natrual irregular geometric patterns. Each piece is then assembled together with resin/glue. No other materials are required to make this product.