the aim was to develop prototypes for sustainable and high-quality products
In spring 2022, the ZweckZwei DesignCamp was organized by ZweckZwei, Creative Industries Styria and the SelfSightSeeing Company. The aim was to develop prototypes for sustainable and high-quality products. Eleven designers from different fields spent a weekend working together on new products. After the experts from fields such as industrial design, fashion design and interior design were introduced to the materials and technical possibilities, the next step was to find ideas and develop prototypes.
© Salon Deluxe
You are currently viewing a placeholder content from YouTube. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.
More Information
The production of consumer goods constantly generates waste materials. Many companies have neither the ideas nor the means to process these recyclable materials sensibly. As a result, vast amounts of resources are wasted every day. The ZweckZwei principle was created to counteract this and turn waste materials into raw materials. ZweckZwei rethinks the circular economy and transforms waste materials from trade and industry into marketable products. The waste serves a second purpose (hence “ZweckZwei”) instead of being disposed of or laboriously recycled. “The majority of all production companies generate residual and used materials on an ongoing basis,” explain Karl Steinwender and Wolfgang Pekny, the initiators of “ZweckZwei”. Steinwender, an expert in life cycle assessment, recognized the potential of unused industrial waste in the course of his professional career. “The companies themselves usually have neither ideas nor resources to process these recyclable materials in a meaningful way. As a result, these ‘treasures’ usually go to the waste management industry and are thus removed from the short cycle.
An enormous waste of resources,” says the man from Fladnitz, who has been working with his dedicated team for years to recycle these residual materials – a number of products have already emerged from this, including lamps and bags, such as a shoulder bag made from airbags and seat belts from scrapped cars. All manufactured by Team Styria, a socio-economic enterprise. “Series production in socio-economic companies is a key component of ZweckZwei, as is the scientifically sound life cycle assessment and life cycle analysis across the entire supply chain, which guarantee products with the lowest climate impact,” emphasizes Wolfgang Pekny, a biologist and chemist by training who worked as a campaign director and think tank for Greenpeace for over ten years. A total of six criteria define the principle:
- Use of residual and used materials from industry, trade and the recycling sector
- Sustainable design creative process (in cooperation with Creative Industries Styria)
- Qualitative prototypes and production design
- Scientifically sound life cycle assessment of the entire process up to the end of life
- Production exclusively in socio-economic companies in the region
- Distribution via ecological and socio-economic companies
“Only if all points are fulfilled is it ZweckZwei,” says Steinwender. On average, ZweckZwei products must not have more than 20-30% of the climate impact of primary production. Steinwender already has over 20 domestic industrial companies in its network as suppliers of industrial waste, including A&R-Karton, BT Watzke, Wollsdorf Leder, Ringana, Vossen, Zotter and many more – these companies provide more than 40 waste fractions ranging from aluminum offset printing plates and plastic rings to foam residues and rubber sheets.
n spring 2022, the ZweckZwei DesignCamp was organized by ZweckZwei, Creative Industries Styria and the SelfSightSeeing Company. The aim was to develop prototypes for sustainable and high-quality products. Eleven designers – including curators Io Tondolo and Itshe Petz (SelfSightSeeing Company) – from different fields spent a weekend working together on new products. After the experts from fields such as industrial design, fashion design and interior design were introduced to the materials and technical possibilities, the next step was to come up with ideas and develop prototypes.
During Design Month Graz 2022, an exhibition showed the transformation process “From Trash to Treasure” – in the spirit of the circular economy, the New European Bauhaus and a green transition – and the resulting prototypes – from acoustic panels, drawer handles and design elements to sun hats and lamps.
C O N T A C T
Barbara Nußmüller
barbara.nussmueller@cis.at