Turning Waste Into Design Treasure With Luca School of Arts

At BuzziSpace, we like to foster young prospects and understand the importance of nurturing them to thrive in the industry, which is why we continue to contribute to our local communities to help inspire the next generation. With this goal, we strongly believe in collaborating with Belgium-based Art – Design Schools.

Sharing our knowledge and expertise, we fed the imaginations of 100 students aged between 19 - 21 from the renowned Luca School of Arts in Belgium. First, to whet their design palates, we welcomed all the students to a tour of our production site in Bladel, the Netherlands, where they received an in-depth look at how we create our lauded solutions, along with experiencing the craftsmanship and passion that runs within.

Assignment

The key aspect of the tour was to showcase our sustainability initiatives and how we recycle and upcycle our foam, cardboard, felt and fabric waste. To challenge the students, we designed a competition around these four waste flows to coincide with the school's curriculum and to test the students' innovation and creativity skills. The goal was to create a unique product using one or more of the four aforementioned waste flows.

The Brief

The students were allowed to use the waste components in whichever way they desired and in addition to any techniques to execute their final products. The students’ creation needed to fit the open brief into one of the predefined Categories of “Patterns,” “Wall,” “Light,” “Space,” or “No Boundaries,” and within the Themes of “Clarify,” “Wonder/Wander,” “Bound,” “Appear/Disappear,” or “Relieve.”

The Results

Multiple techniques, from stitching, weaving, smocking, lacing, and more, were featured prominently throughout the students' submitted products. Overall, our team of BuzziSpace judges were highly impressed with the outcome, thought process, storytelling, and skillsets of each.

Winners

Out of over 40 submissions, the winning team of Laura Deconinck, Inne Grymonprez and Debby Mellaerts was chosen for their conceptual idea, ingenious use of our waste materials, and for allowing our own BuzziSpace team to look at our waste materials differently. The group of three took on the category challenge of “Wall” after being inspired by all the wall panels they saw during their visit to our manufactory.

With the aim of creating something innovative, the team also decided to fit their design into the category of “Light” in lieu of a theme. “After many trials and errors, that brought us to the final result where we achieved that principle with as little residual material as possible with a convincing feeling,” shared Laura on behalf of her team.

Runner-up

Notable designs from the competition also included BuzziCurve by Annelies Ryckbosch, Frauke Roegies, Bibi Kiekens, and Brent Oostvogels. Members of this team chose the category “Wall” and the theme “Soften” to show off their design with “an artisanal technique [to] create a homely atmosphere in the work environment,” shared Annelies.

"It is very inspiring to witness these young creatives in action. Each student embraced the brief and took on the challenge of turning our main waste components into something magical.

Today, with sustainability as the highest priority, it is refreshing to work with students about to embark on their careers. By collaborating with Luca, I believe we planted a seed in their minds and hopefully contributed in one way or another to their futures. 

Best of all, the competition was a confirmation that our "No Boundaries" motto inspired them to push their own limits when designing their pieces." - Steve Symons, President of the Board at BuzziSpace.