Exhaustible natural resources

The problem of exhaustible natural resources is becoming critical: forests are being cut,rivers are being polluted, animals are being destroyed. Nowadays most of the people continue to live without considering the fact that their desire to be fashionable by buying expensive furniture made from natural materials,is fatal for the ecology.

I've always been interested in ecology issues, which is why i decided to visit the exhibition of the Droog company from the Netherlands. Dutch designers reckon that object's are fashionable not because of the type of material it's made of, but because of the exclusive design concept. According to them, this kind of approach will hopefully decrease the negative impact on ecology and commemorate the new era for humanity.

The Droog company within the framework of the exposition presented 42 exclusive exhibits made of unusual materials.

First display that impressed me was the Tree-Trunk Bench made by Jurgen Bey. The general idea of this exhibit is that fallen tree can serve as a bench and the combination with classic bronze chair backs makes it exclusive.

The second one, Chest of Drawers, made by Tejo Remi, represents a haphazard combination of old drawers held together just by a trap. The main idea of the project is that people can add or remove drawers as they like.

In contrast to the Chest of Drawers, while using Push and Store Cabinet made by Chung-Tung Ho, one can't move the drawers as they want — the idea of this exhibit is that it changes its shape during use: while objects are stored, material is pushed back making the whole Cabinet an interactive sculpture in the round.

As we can see, the general idea of the dutch designers is that times has changed and so should change people's values. I fully support this point of view and think that it's our obligation as a young generation of designers to popularize concepts which will help to find a new sustianable way of living — we are now able to make exclusive products by using recycled materials without harming our nature.

Even though most of the people are pretty sceptical about this project, i strongly belive that in the nearest future people will start to use exactly these kinds of furniture — I see it as an evolution of consumption. I believe,that finally we will start value not only our comfort,but also the life around us. Simplicity is not a bad thing at all and making a simple thing special is nothing but an art.

I truly recommend to visit this exhibition to those who are interested in both design and ecology issues and want to somehow change the current situation.  

By Lusine Arakelyan