No Smoking The Future
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
Category
Project Description
Erotic and Heretical
The material is 100% natural: it does not release any harmful products into the domestic environment and becomes a nutrient for the Nature if its use is finished.
Because is erotic the desire to exist in communion with Nature, leaving her a positive contribution. Because it is heretical in relation to traditional products, both in terms of ecological material and sustainable production.
Evolution is the jubilation of Eros and Eros is the vital drive, the joy of living
Geographical Scope
Project Region
Urban or rural issues
Physical or other transformations
EU Programme or fund
Which funds
Description of the project
Summary
Chair and furniture line made from Cradle to Cradle waste paper from the printing industry.
With these products, NoSmokingTheFuture seeks to use new techniques and new gestures to address a necessary change in the personal and collective imagination.
Production began in 2012, but in 2022 the project was further developed by involving BRAUNGART EPEA (Germany).
The result of this collaboration is a material that, in addition to being recycled, is fully implementable in nature, leaving a positive contribution in terms of organic nourishment.
The paper comes from a Swiss printing company Voegeli that uses Cradle to Cradle material and supplies the production waste to NoSmokingTheFuture.
The paper is ground with glues, natural dyes and flame retardant. The latter enables the products to comply with fire regulations; it gives the product organic nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, suitable for soil fertilisation.
The idea is well expressed by Gunter Pauli's BLUE ECONOMY theory: using an available resource, in this case waste paper, and increasing its value through creative regeneration of design.
In this way, the company creates sustainable value inspired by cyclical nature using a personal and recognisable aesthetic.
The products are handmade on a mould.
The importance of craftsmanship in the production process generates value by returning thoughts and emotions to the object.
The process is transferable and scalable.
The product line maintains the lightness, aesthetics and colour of the plastic products that were the stars of international design in the 1970s.
Like plastic, the NoSmokingTheFuture material adapts to many shapes and the product line is light, friendly, colourful without being fake and polluting.
Using the perfect shapes synthesised by industry means accepting as positive everything that humanity has generated in the years of industrialisation. It means grasping the positive message of our humanity to lead us towards the future.
Key objectives for sustainability
Increasing value through creative design regeneration
NoSmokingTheFuture does pre-consumer upcycling: by reusing waste paper that has not yet passed through the hands of the consumer, it makes the chair and other products of aesthetic quality and high value, not like recycling which downgrades the value of the source material.
Networking with environmentally sensitive companies
Printers have a very high material flow and it often takes several hundred proof sheets before the final result is achieved. By purchasing paper exclusively from Cradle to Cradle printing, you can ensure that both the paper and the printing inks are designed to fit into the biosphere.
Increasing value for safe use and the environment
Glues of natural origin, biodegradable inks of natural origin and flame retardant of organic origin are added to the paper. The material formula has been developed at the request of the Braungart Epea laboratory so that none of the materials used pose any danger during production, use and disposal.
Respecting water
During production, rainwater collected in large historical cisterns is used. As only natural glues and additives have been used, the resulting water is reintroduced into the environment as irrigation and soil nutrients.
Returning human energy
The products are laid by hand on moulds. The importance of craftsmanship in the production process generates value by returning thoughts and emotions to the object. The process is transferable and scalable.
Creating nourishment for the biosphere
The material is specifically designed to enter the biosphere. All ingredients benefit the stability of the ecological system. Since the resources used for the chairs bring invaluable resources wherever they decompose, they can be considered a positive/climatic product.
With phosphorus and nitrogen from the flame retardant, the chairs contain important nutrients to promote plant growth and soil fertility.
The whole project is exemplary
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
Being post-industrial: thank you plastic
The product line retains the aesthetics and colour of the plastic products that were the stars of international design in the 1970s. The industry has synthesised perfect shapes in a perfect balance between aesthetics, functionality and ergonomics.
We are all familiar with moulded plastic chair shells, which means that the design of the products is immediately recognisable, leaving only the new significance that lies in the production process and in the regenerated, natural and compostable material.
So the design immediately shows at first sight and/or touch what it means:
"I do not reject what has been of mankind but I feed on its positive sides, the perfect forms synthesized by industry, and I add to it the entropic value of reinsertion into natural cycles using an organic material".
Like plastic, the No Smoking The Future material adapts to many shapes and the product line is light, friendly, colourful without being fake and polluting.
Being Mediterranean
Understated lines and a bold colour palette as a perfect synthesis of Mediterranean architecture and a symbol of the geographical origin of this project, southern Italy.
The bright colours and organic shapes are also in complete harmony with Nature.
Creating a tactile experience
The textures, whether smooth or rough, emphasise the tactile dimension of these products, the texture and colour creating a poetic experience.
Having a nice B-side, in the case of the armchair
The design is exemplary in this context because it is inspired by nature as a producer of beauty, knowing that:
"When we talk... about the wonderful way in which the wings of a butterfly or the thread of a spider have been designed, we have to keep in mind that from the point of view of sustainability, the "designs" and "technologies" of nature are far superior to human science and technology." F.Capra
Key objectives for inclusion
Injecting positive information
The project produces aesthetic pieces with a strong social impact as it injects positive information into the system that can have an effect on the culture of society
Accessibility of all living beings
If we consider mankind to be part of a larger community that includes all the other living beings on planet Earth, the project, once it is finished, is accessible to decomposing organisms such as fungi, lichens, bacteria, protozoa. These play their part by transforming an armchair into food that nourishes the soil and thus also the great plant patriarchs.
Sense of belonging
All this creates a new bond and a strong sense of belonging to the processes of planet Earth.
Easy use
The armchair, for example, is also much lighter than similar products made of other materials, which makes it easier to handle and minimises physical effort. The products can be approached and used by anyone regardless of physical characteristics and abilities.
Easy to understand
The product line can be used by everyone. Having created a new material leads to different experiences, certainly visual but also tactile. When you sit on a NoSmoking chair, it feels different to the touch, as warm as wood and as tactile as stone, conveying the energy of natural materials.
Touch is the sense that is most rarely affected by disabilities, so the information provided by the design is easy to understand for those with different needs and abilities.
Everything is easy to understand, and the uses are simple
Affordability
A part of the products is competitive in price range with equivalent industrial products (armchairs and lampshades), not making the manufacture of the products too heavy on the buyer: the use of seriality in production allows the company to be aligned with market expectations by reintroducing the manual nature of production which brings the energy of the human back to the product.
The project is exemplary because is simple, easy and light.
Results in relation to category
NoSmokingTheFuture products have a positive impact instead of a reduced negative one. They are good instead of bad. The design principle is based on nature, where there is no waste. They are not a danger to people and nature but, rather, they are useful. They are made from nutrients that sustain nature and all living things and can later be used by the biosphere or technosphere.
Waste' does not exist in this sense, i.e. waste - as in nature - is our raw material. Thus, man is understood as an opportunity that makes a positive contribution to our common coexistence on this planet.
The production of the chairs is an upcycling story. Waste paper and scraps from print shops are transformed into healthy, high-quality furniture. Printers have a very high material flow and it often takes several hundred test sheets before the final result is achieved. By purchasing paper exclusively from Cradle to Cradle certified printers, you can guarantee that both the paper and the printing inks are designed to fit into the biosphere.
No trees are cut down specifically for the production of NoSmokingTheFuture furniture. This means that all the trees that would have been needed to produce conventional furniture are still alive, continuing to bind CO2 in the wood and soil. As a result, the resulting material and products are positive for the climate.
NoSmokingTheFuture products add another stage of use and functionality to a cascade of healthy nutrients that are eventually absorbed by the ecological system to become part of something new.
The whole methodology of this project is exemplary for the life cycle of industrial ecosystems.
How Citizens benefit
NoSmokingTheFuture involves civil society at the end of product life.
There is a system for scrapping the old shell.
The basic material of the chair is a consumable component, as it is subject to abrasion and wear. When a chair reaches the end of its life cycle, estimated at more than 10 years, users can either shred the shell and use it in gardens or agricultural areas as fertiliser and humus.
Or, by returning the old shell and keeping the foot frame, users can buy a new shell in the finishes and colours they want. In this way, they will have a chair that is as good as new and the restyling of their furniture at the lowest economic and environmental cost.
On the other hand NoSmokingTheFuture will take care of the proper recycling of the nutrients in the chair shell.
In this way NoSmokingTheFuture will not be the only actor in this story of respect for the biosphere but the user himself will be part of this project.
Physical or other transformations
Innovative character
No SmokingTheFuture contributes positively to solving the problem of indoor air quality.
There is evidence that the European population loses around five years of life expectancy due to the uptake of pollutants in the air. The air quality in buildings is actually substantially worse than that outside, but there are no thresholds for indoor air quality. This has tremendously negative effects on our health.
One third of the approximately 2800 pollutants come from buildings and furniture.
The furniture industry is a resource-intensive industry. Huge quantities of wood, metals and other materials are processed to produce chairs, tables, beds, lamps and the like. About 10.5 million tonnes of furniture are produced annually in the EU (Barbaritano etal., 2019).
Naturally, the diversity of resources and material requirements is accompanied by highly complex supply chains and production processes, which often generate a variety of negative externalities. These can take the form of ecosystem disturbances in resource extraction, application and waste of toxic compounds in production, toxicity and low quality during use, and persistence and bioaccumulation of toxic compounds in waste.
Commonly, the materials used are applied in a way that prohibits sophisticated upcycling and re-extraction of valuable substances, which in the end often leads to the incineration of worn-out pieces of furniture. In fact, 80-90% of furniture waste in the EU is incinerated or sent to landfill. In addition, the furniture industry is responsible for the emission of large quantities of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the environment, contributing to a serious degradation of indoor air quality (Azizi et al., 2016).
The effects described above are catalysed by fashions and trends that are changing faster and faster. Just as in the textile industry, the use phase of furniture has been greatly diminished in recent decades. (Statista, 2022).
Learning transferred to other parties
The actions and strategies to disseminate information about the project results are different:
a WEBSITE has been created where all the results achieved in the search for material by Braungart Epea will be implemented: www.nosmokingthefuture.com.
On the site, PRODUCT SHEETS and DWG FILES can be downloaded to help designers in their design and sales work, as it is clear that products need the mediation of professionals to reach the final buyer.
a MAINSTREEM CAMPAIGN has been launched on Instagram and Facebook, at the moment only in Italy due to available funds to publicise the products and the concept.
Interested people are given personalised information about the project and the objects as a more important indication than the costs.
PARTICIPATION IN COMPETITIONS and prizes at European level in order to convey the project to competent and sensitive people.
Participation in this and other thematic competitions is one of our strategies.
NETWORKING WITH SENSITIVE PARTNERS.
With www.voegeli.ch or with whoever provides us with the cradle to cradle card from Switzerland, we will exchange communication in order to have publicity in environmentally sensitive areas that are difficult to access.
Another example, the architecture firm mcarchitects who used the armchair for a sustainable building.
NEWSLETTER
It is our intention to work on an informative newsletter about projects that are not necessarily related to NoSmokingTheFuture, in order to build trust and bring more sensitive people together.
Presence on dedicated PORTALS such as ARTEMEST; Collaboration with Officine Tamborrino sales partner.
Participation in TRADE FAIRS such as EDITH Naples, which are close to the Italian artisan culture but face an international context.
The SALONE DEL MOBILE di Milano is also on the agenda in the "Fuori Salone", which is more
