The relevance of sustainable products is obvious. However, environmentally friendly material choice and sustainable production only have a limited impact on consumer behavior in society. Much more effective are those products that make you rethink consumption and that have a meaning for the user.
In this project, my goal was to develop a product that contributes to the awareness of sustainability. The product needed to be sustainable not only in its materiality, but also stimulate reflection through the history of its material. During my research I learned a lot about recycling processes, did a self-experiment on plastic consumption and evaluated various ideas.
In the end, the product chosen was beach toys for children. These will be distributed as a gift to children who participate in Coastal Cleanup activities. Ocean plastic is used (partially) as a raw material for the product. This will raise awareness for the circular economy and especially for marine pollution.
After defining the final shape with sketches, three different sand molds were modeled with the software Rhinoceros 3D and also 3D printed for usability testing. In addition, the printed molds served as a dummy for a packaging mockup.
The shapes represent three species of animals, all threatened by ocean pollution: Whale, Turtle and Jellyfish. Through consistent design language, an aesthetic relationship is created. The molds are stackable and the sand is simple to be unmolded. The product and its raw material are in a causal relationship with each other, creating a coherent story.
