For the first time social design works and projects will be presented at the DMY International Design Festival in Berlin.
Social Design is the leitmotif of a new section of the festival presenting design drafts and products addressing the concept of social change. Within this context, humanity forms the focal point, including issues such as progress, sustainability, and addressing basic human needs through design.
Designs on display include Jesper Jensen’s fire-polished recycled glasses, decanters and vases made from discarded bottles. Recycling bottles into these uses 83% less energy compared to traditional glass blowing.
Statthocker is a stool made from out-of-use plastic lantern shades. When classic 1960s hard plastic lantern shades were removed to make way for energy saving diode lamps, the product and interior designers Oliver Bahr and Bastian Demmer came up with the idea of repurposing them into stackable stools, because of their perfect seat height. In memory of its origins the Statthocker can also be illuminated, thanks to a stand-alone LED light fitted into a milled recess beneath the seat. The Statthocker stool is thus not only a seat but a light sculpture too.
On show will not only be objects but also co-design processes and design thinking in action. Zooloori is a project that aims to support children’s independent creative experiences. It works for the premise that children natural have a wild imagination and need simple tools to create or design unique Zoolooris – three dimensional paper cutouts. Matthias Glatzel who developed the workshop has also published a Zooloori book.
Be Able is a Berlin-based social design start-up that aims to create processes of inclusion and integration of people from marginalized groups. Working in the interplay between crafts and design, they install creative educational approaches in shelter workshops and other social institutions. The co-creation approach enables and empowers participants to create products based on their own creative ideas.
The DMY International Design Festival runs from 28 May – 1 June 2014 in Berlin, Germany.
