Art History Essay - Tempted Nature

TEMPTED NATURE

HUMANITY TREATS NATURE LIKE TRASH

‘How do designers inspire humanity to treat nature like how they want to be treated? ‘ ‘How do designers create awareness for the degradation of nature?’

‘Why do we use everything from nature when nature doesn’t even use us?’

‘Why can’t we just throw our trash where it belongs?’

Essay written by Tamara van Roij Art History project 2016

This spaceship that we’re on, is like any other spaceship. It has a life-support system. And that life-support system is the biosphere.

And it provides us everything we need to live on spaceship ‘earth’.

The food we eat, the energy that we need, the light, it regulates the temperature, it regulates the weather. And the biosphere is maintained by a crew of citizens on board spaceship earth. And that crew are all of these mire species, that share this planet with us.

So we are all in it together that way. But many of the crew are more important than others. Some species are just playing passengers.

Not doing really too much but having a great time entertaining ourselves. Humans are being probably in the first class section of that passenger ship right there. And we’re taking off a lot of room in that section, using off a lot of resources which means we are contributing to the death and extinction of really important crew members. Those species that are on this planet, that provide the oxygen that we breathe, and provide the food that we eat. That regulate the weather. The most important of course being bacteria and plankton and algen, and then followed up by insects and worms and then fish. People get upset when I say that worms are more important than people. But on spaceship earth, worms are more important than people because we need the worms to run this spaceship. We don’t need people to do it. Passengers are just sitting around, but worms are making it possible for us to be here. We need the worms but they don’t need us. We need bees, they don’t need us. We need fish, they don’t need us. So these species are far more important to us, without them we wouldn’t exist. So I think that it’s really the responsibility of the passengers on spaceship earth to watch out for the welfare of the crew member that are running this ship... And that are all the species, those engineering species which are maintaining this life-support system.

‘If the oceans die, we die’ Captain Paul Watson

These inspiring sentences from the previous page have everything to do with the ‘Raw for the oceans’ project by G-Star Raw. In my opinion a good way to describe how humanity forgets that we can’t live without nature - nature can survive without us, a strong reminder we should be more thankful for what nature is giving us. We are shaping nature into ‘humane’ environments, we are destroying things from nature to use it for our own good, we are eating nature and we are becoming more and more greedy.

Why this subject?

My heart goes out to animals; any kind of

I would like to go through different

animal cruelty or things where animals

design projects which contain these one/

suffer from attracts my attention. I

two aims;

strongly believe - which concerns me a lot - that people still aren’t aware enough

Creating consciousness/awareness

of what happens in the world out there

projects which are showing

with animals, I think it is a problem that

environmental pollution.

never could be solved. People are still throwing away their plastic into oceans

Projects that show what we could

or other trash on the streets. Lots of

gain from nature/animals to show the

campaigns didn’t brought the results

beauty of it (harmless).

that we would wish for cause we still get confronted with pictures of turtles covered in plastic or birds with cigarettes

My research question;

in their stomaches.

In the future - probably next year - I hope to graduate as a designer. This subject is a great inspiration for all designers who care for nature. A personal involvement in the subject you choose for your projects is a strong motivation to help achieving your goals. I believe results are becoming so much better when you do it when something bothers you and feel really passionate about it.

‘SOUP’ BY MANDY BARKER Mandy Barker has collected plastic debris and other trash from beaches all over the world. Her collection aims to reflect the huge amount of refuse collected from the earth’s oceans over a spread amount of time and the danger they pose to marine life.

‘How do designers create awareness for the degradation of nature?’

SEA ME - NIENKE HOOGVLIET Most of her projects have something to

entirety, so the colour changes from

of fish skins in the fishing industry. She

do with vulnerability; in human, society

dark to light as the yarn unwinds. She

went to fish shops to ask them for fish

or nature. With her projects she is trying

used ordinary dye this time, but it’s also

skins leftover - surprisingly they had lots

to grasp just more then only a nice

possible to use marine algae to colour

of them that were ready to throw away.

product. She tries to reach the ‘viewers’

the yarn. She continues to explore the

It’s a waste that we don’t use these skins

emotions hand in hand with her interest

possibilities of the yarn with Textile

while they are so beautiful and have the

for natural materials and natural

Museum Tilburg. How strong is it, is it fit

ability to be strong as leather. For Nienke

production processes.

for the industrial use?

this was a sign to find a creative method.

Her project ‘Sea Me’ is a carpet made of

It is a project which captures the

She uses a way of tanning these fish

sea algae yarn knotted by hand. Textile

contrast between the polluting plastic

skins without any chemicals. After a lot

production is one of the biggest polluting

waste issues and the beautiful things

of manual labour and being inspired by

industry. For a kilo of cotton you need

the sea has to offer and that we have to

an old technique, she created a strong,

8000 litres of water. After that the cotton

be careful with it. To capture the duality

sustainable and beautiful material which

usually gets painted with synthetic

she used an old fishing net as the base

is just as strong as leather, made from

paint. The sea algae yarns are for the

for the rug. The waste can be re-used in

salmon skin (almost any kind of fish

fully hundred percent natural; during

this way and have an esthetically and

skin is possible to make leather from).

the growth, algae doesn’t even need that

practical use. She doesn’t want to make

To make people really conscious about

much of nutrients as cotton does and

people aware on a pushy way but by

the strength of this kind of leather she

grows much faster than cotton. So when

making beautiful objects made with love

created - next to a rug of fish skin pieces

she came across yarn made of kelp – a

and care to retain a long lasting value.

- a small stool where the sitting part

seaweed harvested in South Africa – she

is made of her fish leather. It is strong

immediately ordered some. She really

Not only sea algae is what keeps her

enough to carry your own body weight

wants to increase the usage of this

busy in her projects, a continuation of

with just a small piece of fish leather.

material in the industry.

Sea Me is the project Re-Sea Me which

Nienke is also experimenting with sea

she showed at Salone Del Mobile 2015.

weed to create yarns with and designed

Nienke discovered this unusual waste

a plaid based on the skin of an elephant.

She dyed the spools of yarn in their

I like the fact that design becomes a way of thinking that can solve the problems in society. Not every aspact of the bad industry is taken away; we still catch and eat fish, and what I’ve read is that there is also a huge amount of fish that will be thrown away during fishery.

When she makes the comparison between cotton and this new sea algae yarns I am convinced that Nienke’s project is so useful. We can’t prevent people doing bad stuff to nature, but we can keep on producing new ways to reduce problems like this.

There should be more projects who are using materials where we own plenty of.

Turning trash into something beautiful again gives us the push to enjoy nature more.

RAW FOR THE OCEANS - G-STAR RAW

The United Nations estimates some 100 million tons of plastic waste to be contaminating in the worlds oceans, a proportion of which washes up on coastlines across the globe, last year Japan had over 200 thousand tons of plastic debris wash up along it's shores.

This abundance of plastic presents an opportunity where the material is delivered by the sea to coasts where it can be processed to make new products with the intention of removing the plastic from the marine environment for good.

This project is quite similar to the projects of Nienke Hoogvliet, not on a visual way but the idea behind it is the same. Here’s an overview to get a quick understanding of what G-Star Raw produced together with the creative Pharrel Williams and Bionic Yarn. From ocean plastic to denim in a nutshell: 1. Out of the ocean.

Plastic pollution is first retrieved from ocean shorelines around the world, and with millions of tonnes of it out there, there is plenty to work with.

2. Pieced in preparation.

The retrieved ocean plastic is broken down into chips and then shredded to fibres, ready to be spun into yarn.

3. Spinning the yarn.

Ocean plastic fibres are spun into strong core yarn and then helixed with cotton, making bionic yarn.

4. Weaving and knitting The innovation is complete with the weaving or knitting of Bionic yarn into RAW for the oceans fabrics.

With lots of great statements, useful movies and illustrations, clothing designs that are ‘playing’ with this huge problem and the creative Pharrel Williams as example and icon, G-Star is turned into a brand who supports a cleaner sea. As long as this environmental pollution doesn’t get prevented in the first place, we have to deal with the current situation and making the best of it.

Besides G-Star, earlier designers made natural fabrics. For instance that we could make a soft fleece fabric from plastic bottles, waste from crab, lobster and prawn shells as base for soft and drapeable fabrics and fabric from waste milk which comes closer to silk than any other material besides silk.

Some other projects dealing with environmental pollution or the beauty of natural materials.

OPEN SOURCE SEA CHAIR

FOOD ON THE TABLE

A PRECIOUS SKIN

Studio Swine

Marre Moerel

Victoria Ledig

How waste plastic picked up by fishing

A cruelty-free but visually stirring

A unique collection of handbags made

trawlers can be transformed into chairs

ceramic collection of tableware made

from unusual cow body parts that not

on board the boats. Plastic caught in

from cast animal organs, such as cow

only shows how much of each animal

fishing nets or found washed up on the

hearts, pig intestines and sheep brains.

is wasted, but also how well-disguised

shore is sorted according to colour and

leather products often are. Heads, tails,

chopped into small bits, then melted at

Useful to be reminded that what we eat

ears, and lower legs, all of which are

130 degrees centigrade in a DIY furnace.

comes from the animals or plants.

unmistakable parts of a dead cow, were used to construct the bags. The upcycled

Some is then squashed between two

materials help to create value from

flat slabs of heavy metal or stone to

something that used to be considered

create the seat, while more is scraped

waste, while the designs themselves

into a mould formed from bent scraps

force people to reevaluate their opinion.

of aluminium. Cooled and solidified by the sea water, the seat and three legs

We sometimes forget that touching

are then scraped with a knife to tidy the

leather is to handle a former living

edges and screwed together to create

being’s hide. Most leather is processed

the Sea Chair.

to the point of becoming unrecognizable as what it is and this contributes to a general attitude, which I chose to question in this project.

CRAFTICA FORMAFANTASMA Formafantasma created Craftica, a

Simone and Andrea selected a range

FomaFantasma seems to be the leader

project - a new body of work exploring

of leathers obtained from fish skins

in discovering new animal-friendly

leathercraft in conversation with other

discarded by the food industry, vegetal

materials which are giving a luxury

hand-worked natural materials on a

processed leather using natural

feeling to every day objects. Not only

tactile level - which is driven by the

substances from tree bark, cork leather

new materials but they are finding some

symbolic connotations of leather; a

extracted from cork trees leaving them

amazing solutions for the qualities of the

material that, more than any other

unharmed, and a series of animal

materials.

represents the complex relationship

bladders investigated for their capacity

between humans and nature. Leather as

to hold liquids. Despite the pieces

For me the most fascinating part is

a material has the ability to evoke almost

appearing exotic in texture and material

that they use cow bladders. It could be

ancestral memories of hunting nature to

combinations, the majority of the leather

something where a lot of people would

obtain food, tools and protection for the

and materials used belongs to the

walk away for or find it very unhygienic

body. Searching underneath and above

everyday world.

but with combining it with clean/fixed

the sea, from the vegetal to the animal

materials they create these ‘dirty’

world, the installation offers a holistic

The skins are tanned in such a way that

materials as if it’s so normal. And this is

view on leather as a material.

it kept the original colors and textures

a super good example of exaggerating

so that we could still relate obviously

the qualities of what nature brings; The

Leather could seem a conservative

to the origin of the used materials. The

bladder has from origin already the

choice for a duo whose previous material

materials have been combined with

qualities to hold liquids. They used the

experiments have included natural

materials like marble, oxidized metal,

qualities to the maximum, really well

rubbers and bois durci (a material

glass, wood and other unprocessed

done.

composed of blood albumen and

natural materials such as bones, shells

sawdust).

and sponges. Their main target was

Regarding to my subject is it a project

to expose the many uses of natural

which opens up thoughts related to

materials.

nature. We have the chance to have

You don’t expect to come across salmon skin stools, cow bladders, scallop shell

these limited materials on our living

spoons and wolffish skin water bottles

rooms! I think it’s a good idea to confront

everyday. FormaFantasma turned to

people every day with beautiful things of

the skins of ‘‘common, ‘unsophisticated’

nature to imprint to be kind to nature.

animals’’ such as pig as well as trout, salmon and wolffish. They workes together with an Icelandic company which is specialised in working with skins discarded from the food industry.

Jar-like containers made of glass and

Spoons and protective masks made with

A series of four stools characterized

cow bladders.

scallopshells.

by organic forms and fin-like legs upholstered in fish leather (salmon, perch, trout, wolffish).

TERESA VAN DONGEN - AMBIO Ocean waves glowing blue in the

The bacteria (Photobacterium species,

idea of not using the classic light bulbs

dark of night, anyone who has ever

isolated from the octopus) are provided

anymore. If it ever will take over the light

experienced this knows how magical

by B.M. Joosse and R.M.P. Groen, two

world, I don’t know... It’s a temporary

it looks. The phenomenon is caused by

Life Science and Technology students

way of receiving light, just like the glow

bioluminescent micro-organisms in

at the TU Delft who currently work on

in the dark effect stars we sticked to

seawater that emit light when provided

prolonging the lifespan of the population

our ceilings as a kid. But again, a lovely

with oxygen every time a wave turnes.

for a possible next generation of Ambio.

ode to the octopuss and what the sea is

The octopuss has lots of bacteria on it’s

Teresa has studied biology before

skin which are luminous. Teresa used the

studying at the Design Academy, which

skin to pull off the bacteria to rear in her

is step closer to what nature can and

lab. There can be made tons of lamps

offers, a good way to merge with her

with the bacteria of just one octopuss,

design education. She also says that the

very economical friendly.

salmon you bought at the market can be

giving us!

also luminous while preparing this fish in This principle inspired her to combine

the dark.

my passion for design and biology in a bioluminescent light installation. Ambio

Ambio is a visualization of a research on

balances two weights and a glass tube

how to use nature as a source of energy.

half-filled with a “Artificial Seawater

Bacteria is seen as something we have to

Medium” containing a carefully selected

get rid off while Teresa just showed the

type of these unique luminescent

qualities of it.

species. Give the lamp a gentle push every so often and the weights will keep

I think this project is economical friendly

it moving and thus glowing.

in such a way that we are growing to the

‘How do designers create awareness for the degradation of nature?’

Some projects I have shown are

To answer my research question in a few

obviously busy with improving the huge

words: There are multiple ways;

amount of trash on beaches. Some of them are less obvious and have a

By creating beautiful things from

deeper connection to ‘awareness for the

material out of nature. Designers have

degradation of nature’.

a smart way to approach people with nature problems. Not pushing them

For example the project of Teresa van

to stop using nature like trash but

Dongen. Let’s be honest; The main goal

showing to be grateful.

is not to prevent people from throwing away their plastic bottles into nature.

By creating design solutions which

She is showing the beauty of what

make it easy to contribute to a better

nature could give us if we treat it well.

environment. (For example the stool

She brings the beauty that exists in the

from Studio Swine)

deep sea to the human life to experience the wonderful things a fish can. Some

By using a famous icon and co-creator.

people even get a seasick feeling while

People are more likely to follow others

watching her lamps in the dark. For me

to do the right thing.

that’s a beautiful way

Used sources: WEBSITES www.g-star.com www.designtaxi.com www.formafantasma.com www.frameweb.com www.dezeen.com MAGAZINES/BOOKS Volkskrant Magazine: Wonen en design Elle Decoration Fabric for Fashion - The complete guide (Natural and man-made fibres) TV Jan Rijdt Rond (19-11-2015)