February 26 - bricolage

bricolage n. Something made or put together using whatever materials happen to be available.

On By Design (ABC radio) I heard that there's a competition in Tasmania for designers to come up with products which can be made from industrial discards and that could have marketing potential.

The dolls in the photo were the winning entry for the inaugural competion in 2008. They are called Redivivus dolls and were made by Susan McMahon using reconstituted sawdust and recycled flour bags. She liked the idea of creating something that lasts from materials that would usually be discarded.

Tasmania has a tradition of reusing things and the products made available to the designers include plastic offcuts, rubber, metal bits, fabrics, cardboard etc.

These necklaces made from laminex offcuts was another of last year's entries.

Other ideas included a sprinkler made from car parts.

Maree Bakker, competition organiser and Sustainability officer in the Tasmanian Environment Division explains:
"Many industries are trying to reduce their water and energy use and reduce their waste, but a large amount of waste still goes to landfill. This competition is an opportunity to reuse some of that waste and encourage new market opportunities through design innovation. "

Reverse Garbage is a re-use concept with operations in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, providing clean industrial discards for anyone who wants to be creative with materials that would normally be sent to the waste stream. I think it's great that many people are now looking at creatively diverting these resources fom landfill.

I'll HAVE to make something from industrial discards for my page in the book on this topic.