Panta Rei
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
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Project Description
Panta rei
It is a surfboard made respecting a design and production system that can bring to the world an innovative concept of surfboard towards a more ecological horizon: A study and selection of non-polluting raw materials, as well as the use of manufacturing techniques that can maximize and significantly reduce prices and costs.
Geographical Scope
Project Region
Urban or rural issues
Physical or other transformations
EU Programme or fund
Which funds
Description of the project
Summary
My goal is to offer creations that stand out from the
simple white foam surfboard with company logo.
I believe that, especially after this pandemic crisis, we should make a reflection and try to make objects more on a human scale, safeguarding the location,
valuing the handmade and the new craftsmanship.
These factors led me to design and make a sustainable surfboard out of recycled and reclaimed materials.
Describing how they can be used in a functional design product and how their characteristics can be enhanced by offering new stimuli and opportunities.
 Panta rei is the name of my surfboard, an aphorism traditionally attributed to the philosopher Heraclitus.
As for Heraclitus, reality is in continuous becoming and transformation,
so the materials that make up the products never die, but can generate new products.
The table is made of recycled and recovered materials such as
Cardboard and cork obtained from wine corks.
The choice of cardboard and corks was dictated by "a sort of challenge". In my first experimental tests it was demonstrated that they are not poor materials, but materials rich in potential,
both in structural and aesthetic terms.
Panta rei is a very versatile shortboard, with high maneuverability and stability.
It has a measure of 173cm by 50 cm wide enough to
guarantee a good stability.
To have a board easy to paddle, maneuverable and at the same time that can guarantee a good
at the same time that can guarantee a good start on small waves, it is necessary to distribute the volume not in the length but in the other two dimensions.
Key objectives for sustainability
At the heart of Panta Rhei is a type of economy based on self-healing.
On the principle that waste and discarded materials can be
recovered and reinserted into new cycles, used as primar materials for the production of new objects.
In an era like this one in which attention to the environment is increasingly greater, it is essential to go every step
possible to reduce pollution.
The first material taken into consideration is
Corrugated cardboard, biodegradable, 100% recyclable, lightweight and structural. It is the most widely used material in packaging.
The second material chosen is cork,
one of the sustainable materials par excellence, of which two thirds of the national production comes from Sardinia.
A particular type of packaging of this material has been taken into consideration
which is often overlooked, cork stoppers.
In Italy about 800 million corks are thrown in the trash.
A real lost heritage if you consider that a product that is
100% natural product, recyclable and biodegradable.
Two other materials used are the
glass fiber used to cover the table,
obtained from scraps of shaper rolls.
It has a minimum environmental impact of 5% on the board.
The choice allows the visibility of the internal layers of the board.
Finally will be used a resin to waterproof the whole.
The Super Sap, an epoxy resin
partially obtained from the waste by-products of the pulp and paper industry. pulp and paper industry has partial biological content. This makes bio-resins
significantly better for the environment than petroleum resins.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
The internal composition of the board made from
cardboard layers glued together with a glue based on vegetable starch in aqueous dispersion.
The processing technique that I decided to adopt is the CHAMBERED:
consists in shaping the lists of the frame going to empty them with a zigzag pattern,
in order to empty the board internally making it lighter.
The material that will constitute the central part of the surfboard, that is the spar, will be made by the company Pasella. Through the recycling of
corks, its function was designed to: increase the flexibility given by the cardboard
which gave too much rigidity.
The cardboard layers that make up the table are divided into 4 categories
with an internal box that decreases moving away from the center up to
arriving to layers in solid cardboard to guarantee a greater resistance to possible shocks.
They are designed for a manual modeling,
and therefore calculated specifically for the transversal curvature that will adopt the table.
The first phase of work consists in drawing the board and
Eliminate the waste material that will be used later for the production of the fins.
After that it is necessary to perform a 'careful squaring and sanding of the cut,
going to roughen the edges with the electric planer so as to add a cork edging.
Key objectives for inclusion
One of the key objectives of Panta rei in terms of inclusion
will be to give everyone the opportunity to produce their own sustainable surfboard.
By organizing workshops where you will spend 5 days together in a laboratory equipped
to make your own surfboard
starting from the construction and assembly of the internal structure.
In the second phase will follow the closure of the board and the shape
and then finish with the finishing of the board, the positioning of the fins and any customizations. At the end of 5 days the board will be ready to be resined! During the course we will dedicate space for the theoretical aspects. At the end of the course we will resin your board and send it directly to your home.
Physical or other transformations
Innovative character
My project idea is based on the concept of symbiosis with
nature that evokes a little bit the philosophy of Spinoza and many oriental cultures, in which is demolished any distinction between the individual and world, to make room for a total fusion , in which the individual becomes nature and nature becomes individual.
It is a teaching that the surf seems to embody, in the symbiosis of man with nature and the sea
Handmade boards are made with passion and pleasure
of building something with their own hands. The main reason for which choose a handmade surfboard is that it is a unique product created tailored to the person to whom it is intended.
The board must be adapted to the physical characteristics and sporting abilities of a person to
best accompany him/her during the surfing sessions. Industrialized boards (meaning as large distribution) are made in a few hours.
Better to wait 3-4 weeks and have a board made especially for you rather than fill with models made for surfer "x" an infinite number of stores all over the world. So for boards, as for all the products of
large distribution.
