My Cornish World Dan Dicker

M Y CORNISH WORLD M Y CORNISH WORLD

Meet Dan Dicker, CEO and founder of Circular & Co an eco-conscious homeware and lifestyle brand that looks to make the most of our resources. Creating products that champion recyclability and longevity, this innovative design company are putting the planet first.

QHi Dan! Tell us a little bit about yourself and your connection to Cornwall? Nearly 18 years ago I was designing for landlocked Dyson near Swindon and spending most weekends travelling to the coast to enjoy windsurfing and surfing. There are only so many hours on the M5 before you have to question your priorities! I loved working at Dyson and if they had a Cornwall Coastal Division, I’d still be with them, but they selfishly didn’t, so I selfishly left!

QTell us a bit about Circular & Co and what is involved in the brand? To be very honest we started Circular & Co to make a living and to make a difference. Hand on heart, as long as the first objective was just about covered, our main energy and enthusiasm has always been built around the latter. We passionately believe after nearly 18 years at the core face of Circular Design we all have real opportunity to right some of the global wrongs by adopting a Circular ethos, lifestyle and mindset. Q What inspired you to start Circular & Co? Completely and utterly the draw of Cornwall. 18 years ago, if as a product designer, you wanted to live in this wonderful playground, then you had to start your own business to enable it. A company only then moves forward by having several challenges in front of them, and we are lucky enough to have had lots! The resilience that we’ve built over time provides us with the motivation to keep pushing the brand and industry forwards.

QWhat do you love about your work and what do you find challenging? The fact we produce products that try to do more, they are built to specifically tackle some of our big environmental problems. By designing products from waste materials, you create sustainable highvalue demand for once worthless objects that we would have previously classed as litter. Everything has value and nothing has a single purpose. The biggest personal challenge is I ironically now find is the time to go windsurfing or surfing!

QWhat ideas and advice would you give to people who want to invest more in the circular generation? At the current rate of mass consumption, we will soon start to run out of key resources so if we want the next iPhone in 30 years-time we need to act now and get more from what we already have.

1. Reduce – we are all guilting of carefree consumption, take stock and constantly ask yourself ‘Do I really need that?’ And if the answer is yes then it is on to step 2: Choose – is it made from recycled materials

Challenge – longevity, is it designed to last as long as possible

Check – can it be easily recycled at the end of its long life

We all have a choice despite what is in front of us. If it isn’t matching up to your circular checklist then scroll on to the next page, there is always a next page. You have that power!

QTell us about some of your bestselling products and the process behind them? Virtually all our best-selling products have come from material innovation, where we’ve managed to find a way of recycling problematic materials back into a new product. Our Circular Cup made from single-use paper cups has been very popular, especially in the UK where you see lots of people out about with them. We are massively proud that the product has become a beacon, especially within industry and academia, for Circular Design. Every cup sold is another person becoming aware of how valuable waste can be and if treated as such, can become tomorrow’s product.

QWhen you’re not busy, what do you like to do to relax in Cornwall? Windsurf and surf! My family and I love the diversity of Cornwall, one day it’s the rugged north coast and all its high-octane sports, the next you are lounging in a hammock made from old fishing nets overlooking a tranquil Carrick Roads. To top it off the very next day you can be hiking in the middle of Bodmin Moor trying to outstare a pony!