Errr. What Tyres for…….

http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/bike-makes-lampshades

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We’ve lost our connection with the value of the things that we buy. Rather than caring for products and repairing them if they break, we don’t expect them to last and throw them away when they’re no longer of use. Often, it’s the most cost-efficient thing to do. This disconnect is unsustainable and needs to change. People need to reconnect with products and one of the best ways to do that is to involve them in the manufacturing process.

This wouldn’t appeal to the average person unless it was an enjoyable and unique process. So, as part of my product design course at Nottingham Trent University’s School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment, I designed a rotational moulding rig which allows people to create their own lampshade by riding a bike. The idea was to make people feel as though the product was their own creation, and not just a non-descript item off the shelf.

The rig, which rotates a lampshade mould when fitted to the front wheel of an ordinary bike enables people to develop an increased personal attachment to their lampshade as they have to put a bit of themselves into it.

For it to work, the user pours jesmonite, a bio resin, into the lampshade mould and adds a colourant of their choice. The mould is then placed into the rig and when the user starts to cycle the mould rotates

The centrifugal force which is produced creates a hollow cylinder out of the jesmonite. And after 40 minutes of cycling, the jesmonite sets to create a new lampshade.

Different layers of colour can be added to the lampshade by repeating the process once the previous mould has set – the user can tailor their lampshade to how they want it to look

The feeling you get when taking the lampshade out of the mould is the best bit, when you realise it has worked. When I first made my own, I was so happy. I had affinity with it that doesn’t come with ordinary products.

And the experience of the bike ride is all part of it, as you connect the ride and the product together. By going on the bike ride, you literally have to put your own precious time and sweat into making it, which makes it more important to you.

Mark Colliass, is a product design student at Nottingham Trent University’s School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment. His lampshade design is on show at Nottingham Trent University’s exhibition ‘Magic Light’
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pics on the link. Can’t see it catching on down Cannock of a weekend.