Loup A nature inspired meat composting solution. Lacoste, France Spring 2015 10 weeks
Design Opportunity
Design a biomimetic opportunity for the food industry.
My role: Project Manager & Creative Director • Lead the team through research and discovery • Developed all creative outcomes. • Organized submission and team to the Ocean Exchange Challenge where we were a finalist
Big Pitch Finalist
BIOMIMICRY “Biomimicry is the conscious emulation of nature’s genius. It is an interdisciplinary approach that brings together two often disconnected worlds: nature and technology, biology and innovation, life and design. The practice of biomimicry seeks to bring the time-tested wisdom of life to the design table to inform human solutions that create conditions conducive to life. At its most practical, biomimicry is a way of seeking sustainable solutions by borrowing life’s blueprints, chemical recipes, and ecosystem strategies. At its most transformative, biomimicry connects us in ways that fit, align, and integrate the human species into the natural processes of Earth (Baumeister, 2013)”.
Our transdisciplinary team thoroughly enjoyed learning the Biomimicry Thinking Design Process together. Through our different educational backgrounds, our team had a variety of thinking strategies. •Biologist •Biomimicry Specialist •Design Professional •Design Management Graduate Students •Sustainability Designers •Service Designers •Industrial Designers •Furniture Designers
SCOPE PHASE Research Questions:
• Where in Provence, France is food waste occurring? • Who are the stakeholders? • What are the laws related to food? • Where is the food originating? • How is food processed, handled and stored? • How is food distributed and marketed? • How is food consumed in Provence? • How is waste managed in the system?
Primary Research: • Interviews • Observations • Participatory methods
TARGET MARKET The French Market All stakeholders that are associated with open-air markets in the Provence, France. Stakeholders were separated into categories: • Beneficiaries: sellers and consumers • Administrators: law enforcement and local businesses • Overseers: farmers, fisherman, producers, government, processors, distributors, transporters, health inspectors, and wildlife authorities
Local Market
Social Network & Exchange of Goods
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Health Inspectors
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Residents Tourists
Sanitation
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Government Vendors ile ob
Local Market
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Local Market io n e d B us
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Social Network & Exchange of Goods
Ecosystem Map
This ecosystem map shows the relationships between stakeholders in the context of local open-air markets and the inherent relationships that vendors have with the other stakeholders. Local markets in the Provence function as centers of a social network. The stakeholders within this ecosystem facilitate exchanges between each other and cause the system to thrive. The natural resources from the local environment provide for this system. Farmers, fishers and herdsmen grow and/or harvest natural resources, and the transporters and distributors are the bridge to the market system at the core of the network.
PROBLEM STATEMENT Food waste is occurring all over the world— which is a problem vis-à-vis the serious systemic sustainability issues humanity is facing. With this project, the design team focused on food waste occurring in the open air markets in the Provence, France — the team’s temporary location during Spring 2015. We were looking for design opportunities to turn this food waste
into useful products, services, or system.
OPPORTUNITIES Initially, we thought about the below listed opportunities which guided the development of questions for the secondary and primary research:
There is an opportunity to
There is an opportunity
design creative solutions to
to
food waste elimination for and/or with address
the stakeholders in the open-air markets of Provence, France.
establish connections and
There is an opportunity
There is an opportunity
to involve
for education
the community in
cooperation between
supporting an ecofriendly and
market vendors in order to
sustainable way of life by directly participating in
discover innovative strategies for addressing food waste problems.
the food waste solution.
and creative engagement with the food waste problem solution.
INSIGHTS Through research and observation, we discovered that within the open-air food markets in the Provence, France, large amounts of food waste are generated by the disposal of meat and old produce that is not sold. This fact was also confirmed when we open air markets in Paris the problem was exasperated by the larger amount of produce on the markets. The bio-waste of meat and fish is not being used to its full potential.
How might we...
How might we...
-Create a new market stall for producers, such as a farmer’s market, that also attracts consumers to buy directly from the producers. - Design for the inclusion of children in the markets, so that they have a place as a stakeholder in the market system.
-Create a package to preserve meat in a fresh capacity? -Create a system for the disposal of bad meat so the vendors can continue to sell? -Sort waste to eliminate the accidental disposal of meat into trast in a way that is accessible and widely used? -Create a more efficient method of transporting meat so that it stays fresh longer.
INSIGHTS
How might we...
-Create a site for producers in the markers? -Invite consumers to interact with the producers? -Teach consumers to learn to reduce food waste?
How might we...
-Create a modular system that weighs the products and byproducts of food processing? -Provide a centralized trash system in the food system? -Construct a framework to educate the stakeholders where and how the food waste occurs?
Design Statement Our design must upcycle food waste from local open-air markets in order to create value for stakeholders so that it is enthusiastically adopted.
Project Vision Our design enables people in open-air markets to upcycle their food waste, it enhances the experience of children visiting the markets, is also accessible to adults, repurposes the waste into useful products, and leads to the experience of fun and to creative expression.
DISCOVER PHASE In the discovering phase we examined the ecosystems in Provence, in particular, we investigated how nature manages nutrient cycles. We explored models in nature, searched for patterns and directly observed nature’s functions. Along with the primary analysis, we conducted secondary research and utilized the expertise and experience of the Scientist at the Design Table, Sherry Ritter, who supported the team during the discovering phase. To learn from nature, we explored various ecosystems in the area.
I-SITES
FUNCTION CARDS The discovering phase activities conclude with the creation of “Function Cards,” which are the outcome of comprehensive analyses of specific organisms, processes, or systems that fulfill the function identified in the design challenge. The function card begins with the common and scientific name of the organism investigated, the specific function focus, the strategy used to fulfill this function, and the mechanism used for the strategy — which is a more indepth explanation of the process of completing this function. A design strategy is then abstracted from the mechanism to be used in the following creating phase.
Grey Wolf (Canis lupus) Grey Wolf
(Prio
Blue Shark (Prionace glauca)
(Canis lupus)
Molars for crushing Molars for crushing
Once Native to the southern regions of France, the grey wold was driven our of the area in the 1930’s. The species is now making a return to the region admist controvery. Many sheep farmers fear the predatory wolves will prey on their herds, but conservationists defend the species as a natural part of the local ecosystem. The grey wolf has the strongest biting strength of any species of canid. Their jaws and molars have evolved to crush bone. The wedge shaped molar has evolved as an efficient tool to break apart tought objects such as bone and tough meat. The design team studied the jaws of the gray wolf in order to understand the mechanics necessary to efficiently break down the emat waste left by the vendors at the end of the day selling at the market.
Blu
H-Cl K-Cl Na-Cl
H-Cl K-Cl Na-Cl Native to the waters of the Mediterranean Sea south of Provence, the blue shark has evolved natural strategies for breaking down meat and fish into useful nutrients. The stomach of the shark is expandable and contains rugae (muscle ridges along the stomach wall) that churn and mix the food materials with hydrochloric acid, sodium chloride, and potassium chloride. The pancreas contributes to this process by secreting protein breaking enzymes into the stomach. The rhythmic contractions of the stomach are referred to as peristalsis. The stomach is capable of storing food for months. The design team looked to the evolved mechanisms of the shark’s stomach to learn how to effectively break down the meat waste leftover from the market vendors.
CREATE PHASE Based on our research during the scoping phase and what we found in our discovering phase, the design team began developing concepts that would be locally attuned to the needs of the area with the goal of upcycling the meat waste produced by the market system of Southern France.
SOLUTION 1 2 5
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Meat and fish waste produced by the market vendors is collected. Through a series of devices the organic waste is separated into meat and bones. The bones are ground into particulet. The devices are operated mechanically and by wind power when the wind is available. The emulation from nature’s genius concerns the process of food being broken down by enzymes in the shark’s stomach and by the action of the wolf’s jaw crushing the bones.
3
Emulating the building strategies of the paper wasp (mixing saliva with fiber), the bone dust is converted into bio-degradable material- suitable for use in a 3D printer - by mixing bone dust with bio-plastic material.
4 5 6
At the market, 3D objects are printed in a specialized 3D printer with the bio-degradable 3D printing filament generated by the local food waste. Market vendors are investors in the 3D printing stall, effectively converting their waste into value. Any discared products safely biodegrade and cycle nutrients back into the ecosystem.
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EVALUATE PHASE The Evaluating Phase consisted of cross checking the design against each of the 26 Biomimicry Life Principles, and making sure that the prototype truly addressed the original design challenge and that the project as a whole fulfilled the project vision. We identified problems with the design and substantiated those claims with possible solutions that further incorporated processes in nature. This phase included the revisiting of the previous phases, and furthered the collaboration of the whole design team to address blind spots and missed opportunities.
SOLUTION REFINED After evaluating our solution, we realized that while the solution seemed intriguing, many users did not like the idea of using animal meat and bones to 3D print a toy or a gift. There are concerns of safety and cleanliness. We found that our solutions could have tackled the same task in a more simplified way. We reevaluated and redefined Loop. Loop is a simple compost solution. Waste is taken from the markets, broken down, and then given to the local farmers to use as organic matter within their soil.
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The markets sell the materials produced by the farm systems. Fish and meat waste is collected from the markets. Hard materials such as bones or scales are broken down by mechanisms based on the wedge form of the wolf’s jaw and teeth. Soft materials are broken down by the chemical systems based on the digestive system of the blue shark. Organic matter is broken down into compostable material. Compost is used by the farms that support the market system.
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Concept Map
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L�p 4
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TAKE AWAYS has a solution to every problem. We just 1Nature have to learn from it. The hardest part of this project was to create a solution that did not create a different problem.
2Creative Thinking.
Studying abroad in Lacoste, France, we had limited resources and materials. I learned to think creatively to prototype and experiment. We were prototyping turning meat and bones into a hard material that represented plastic by cooking on a stove with ingredients from a grocery store.
3Know Your Strengths.
This project was my first project being placed in a leadership role. Being placed in this role I was trying to complete tasks and stressing over things that I just had not learned yet. I learned it is okay to ask for help even when you are leading the team.
4Research makes design solutions meaningful.
This was one of my first research projects. Through the immense amount of research we did in 8 weeks, I realized how good design comes from finding the real problem and not just creating hypothetical problem.