Jane Mitchell

Thesis Studio

Design Brief: INSPOREATION

THESIS PROJECT NEW DIRECTION

Questions:

  1. How can we encourage people to remain engaged in the biosciences?

  2. How can we encourage consumers to think critically about sustainability, remain aware of their own environmental impact, and consider new innovative ways to use biomaterials to design products?

  3. Is it possible to intervene in the current cycle of a product and waste production? What role does biodesign play in the future of design?

INSPOREATION is an educational kit for ages 10+ that allows users to interact with biodesign and sustainability. The kit provides users with the necessary tools to create and nurture their own accessory. By providing a creative avenue to explore bioscience, the goal is to teach children and teens to not only engage in ecology and biology, but to reconnect with the things they wear, learn about sustainable design, consider the impact of design on waste and the environment as well as their own personal impact. The users are able to experiment with biomaterials and the role that they could play in future product design as well as possible ways to intervene in the current product/environment design system.  

The first iterations of INSPOREATION were an exploration of form and growing possibilities. The forms were a variety of wearables - rings, necklaces, hair clips. Overall, after testing the wearable with a number of different users, there was a desire to have an even wider range of accessory options. While the wearable form was taking shape, unfortunately, due to time constraints I was not able to fully explore different biomaterials that could be used to create the forms, which will be a very important next step for the project. Initially the idea for INSPOREATION came from my interest in mycology, I expanded the project to incorporate a wider variety of organisms including plants. The next steps will be to consider the desired lifecycle of the product, the user journey, developing the learning outcomes, creating a sustainable kit, as well as creating an INSPOREATION community.

Jane MitchellComment