Idealog.co.nz | The Transformation Issue
043
competition
MERINOLITE
Glen Askey
Wool is a luxury product that is limited to people’s
perception of it as a material only for fashion and
clothing. By utilising the waste strands of the wool
production process, a series of bio materials can be
used to create a more responsible production line that
is better for sustainability. Merinolite is influenced
by early plastics such as bakelite that were seen as
luxury goods until they were mass produced and
commoditised. By creating a new luxury bio plastic,
Merinolite can offer designers a new bespoke material
that has more character and sustainability than
plastics, such as acetate used in luxury sunglasses.
This product offers a leading-edge view on
materials science that utilises world-class new
methods of synthesising plastics out of animal
proteins. This is the first wool plastic and these
experiments are the first of their kind in the world.
The choice of materials with valuable characteristics is
crucial for designers and offering fashion and product
designers, as bespoke materials is a big market.THE
MOTHER LOA D
NAPPIES
Lucy WG
The Mother Load aims to address the issue of non-decomposing
disposable nappies and baby wipes by introducing a decomposing,
disposable nappy and baby wipe made entirely of biodegradable
materials, such as wool. The Mother Load is a naturally decomposing,
biodegradable disposable wool nappy and wipes that replaces the
non-biodegradable synthetic material used in the production of
disposable nappies and replaces it with wool technology and other
biodegradable materials that absorbs, wicks and holds a child’s waste
matter in the same way that any regular disposable nappy does.
We live in a day and age of consumerism that cares very little
for the environment. In a culture of mass consumption, eco-friendly
consumer products need to be more widely available. As soon as
a child is born, we are taking away their right to live on a healthy
planet because we use nappy products that will not decompose for
hundreds of years. One child will use up to four nappies a day for
the first two to three years of its life. That is more than 4000 nappies
consumed by one child alone. Every environmentally safe The Mother
Load nappy or wipe that’s sold means one less synthetic nappy and
wipe that will not be found 500 years from now.