summaery2021: Projects

Project information

submitted by
Felix Stockhausen

Co-Authors
Felix Stockhausen Friedrich Gerlach

Mentors
Katrin Krupka, Susann Paduch

Faculty:
Art and Design

Degree programme:
Product Design (Bachelor of Arts (B.A.))

Type of project presentation
– Other –

Semester
Summer semester 2021

Links
https://www.friedrichgerlach.de/...
https://www.felixstockhausen.de

Project description

The worldwide production and consumption of facemasks alone leads to an additional waste of more than 584 million tons per year. With hardly any recycling efforts huge amounts of plastic waste will end up in landfills and the oceans. The degrading of polypropylene used in mask production takes around 400 years.

“UNclean Plastics” encourages a critical, creative debate about the use of resources. Specifically, the project focuses on the consumption and cycle chains of Covid 19 protective products such as FFP2 masks. The aim is to not only create new approaches using additive production methods to reduce/recycle the waste quantities but also to work on the psychological characteristics of those products through design intervention.

Material research and experimentation with different extrusion methods were a major part of the project. Filaments with varying ratios of recycled polypropylene from used or production waste facemasks and pure polypropylene were tested and used for 3D printing.

The monomaterial toothbrush was developed within the project as a symbolic product and is printed using the recycled polypropylene filament. It is 3D printed in one piece, including the bristles. Producing an everyday product such as a toothbrush from recycled facemasks aims to create a strong contrast from contaminated waste to hygiene product. The confrontation sparks a debate on cleanness and disgust, as well as raising awareness about the use and value of resources.

Email: felixstockhausen[at]web.de