Yum design
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
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Project Description
Yum design creates furniture from marine plastic waste. The studio wants to reinvent the current image of recycled plastic products. We want to clean the sea with good designs and furniture´s provides a platform to recycle great amount of marine plastic. The project counts with a well define brand image that maintains a close relationship with its community on social media. Our community is part of the brand itself, validating designs and content.
Project Region
EU Programme or fund
Description of the project
Summary
Yum design is a Brand that cleans the ocean with furniture obtained from sea trash. Yum design wants to renovate the image of sustainable products stereotype: simple, rough and use neutral colors. Also, demonstrates that recycled plastic can be as good as non-recycled materials. That’s why Yum Design creates innovative, complex and colorful designs, showing other companies and the whole world the capacity and profitability of plastic recycled from oceans.
Each material has its life expectancy and unfortunately single-use plastic are everywhere, including our oceans, and it presence is increasing every year. Furniture is a platform to recycle large amounts of plastic and create a product with a life expectancy similar to the plastic.
Yum design creates furniture heavier than the average. Compared to other sustainable brands, more weight means more sustainable, because more plastic is cleaned from our oceans.
Yum design uses Instagram as its main communication channel to show our community beach cleanups, sustainable tips and all the new furniture. This platform also shows us what the community wants and how it wants it.
Yum design is located in the Canary Island, we have examined the coastline to validate the project and study what type of material we have. Likewise, Yum design contacted organizations related to plastic material in the area to revalidate the viability of the project.
The status of the project is: we are working on the minimum viable products, a better superficial quality of the furniture and methods to clean the plastic waste.
Key objectives for sustainability
The Furniture are made of marine thermoplastic. The main thermoplastics that floats in the sea are polypropylene and high-density polyethylene. These materials float due to the lower density compared to seawater and that is why it is the most found in the Canary coastline. Polypropylene and high-density polyethylene have very similar properties and can be processed together or separately. In some Canarian beaches is possible to collect twenty kilograms of polypropylene and high-density polyethylene every week.
To make it possible we contacted different organizations, that every week cleans black spots from the Canary Islands to collect the material we need, and pay them for their waste that now a days is cleaned altruistically. The material obtained by the different organizations and that collected weekly by Yum design can meet the demand for furniture. Future goals, if the demand increases, is to obtain plastic from coastline and fishing boats throughout Macaronesia.
The manufacturing processes used are few and do not require large machinery, this means that in the future we could easily switch to renewable energy, the Canary Islands are also one of the sunniest places in the world.
Refer to circular economy and sustainability of the material, if the furniture were to be thrown away, the use of a single material will make it easy to recycle. Now a days they are plenty of local spaces to recycle plastic, like precious plastics spots that could crush the furniture to send it back to Yum design and make another furniture. But the most important is that the furniture has the same life use as the material life expectancy. Yum design has chosen furniture for that reason, it has a long-life usage, it allows to recycle big quantities of marine plastic and at the same time we can provide the furniture’s a brand to sell to customers that identifies with our brand.
Finally, Yum design more weight means better. That is why our chair will weigh more without hindering its
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
Yum design has to have a great design but the most important thing is the communication of the brand image. To stand, now a day, is needed a brand with a powerful background. At Yum design we think that this could be achieve with high quality videos where we show the manual cleaning of the beach and how it is transform into a chair or a table in a way that could be considered handcrafted. This will be our advantage to compete with larger companies.
Our main objective is to collect as much plastic from the ocean as possible, which could be by showing the potential of the waste obtained from the ocean or by selling as much furniture as possible. The furniture design gives the possibility to plastic waste to obtain an emotional value from the costumer when paying for it. The furniture is the materialization of a “donation” to a company that will clean the ocean with it.
All furniture will come with its weight in recycled marine plastic and a small clip of the exact part beach o sea that was cleaned and how much plastic was collect in that clean up. We want to show each client exactly what their impact was on cleaning the beach.
A Higher weight compared to the average furniture is a marketing strategy, user must notice the difference weight between the average furniture to get to know how much they have helped clean the ocean.
Colors will be eye-catching as show in the images, and surface finish will be smooth, we like to show that its made from plastic. The shape of the furniture also refers to the fact that circular economy always has continuity. Yum design tries to give each furniture the same language to all the different designs.
To finish, we are proud to hide some references to younger generations that will fight for a better planet. Our chair, which is our main piece, is designed for an ergonomic seating but also for a more youthful way of sitting as is shown in the lower images.
Key objectives for inclusion
The project is being developed in the Canary Islands, the Spanish area with the highest unemployment. We have an economy base on tourism that has been badly damage due to actual pandemic situation. Yum design not only improves coastline image due to tourism, its also creates an unknown sector in the Canary Island to take advantage and generate employment.
Yum design´s project can also boost other organizations that cleans the coast and sea in the Macaronesian Sea altruistically. All organizations work to clean the sea of waste and also communicate and educate population to live a better sustainable life, Yum design´s will give them the economic impulse to continue their work. Educational speeches by Yum design and other organizations will have a presence in schools and social media accessible to everyone. At Yum design we have some information about recycling techniques, how to identify products with higher ambiental impact, what you should avoid when buying at the supermarket or how to make a correct beach cleanup.
In conclusion, the correct way of take care of our planet will reach many more people. On the other hand Yum design will generate employment and training around this new ecodesign sector in a place with high unemployment.
Innovative character
Now a days there are no brands which recycle plastic from the ocean to make such high volume and life expectancy products. Many of the brands that recycle plastic from the ocean offers small or low life expectancy products. It is impossible to clean the ocean by selling a pair of glasses when there is global consumption of kilos and kilos per person per year. It is also illogical to make a short-lived product as the face mask holder. These two products are created by the two leading ocean plastic cleaners in the world. The key to succeed is to really giving the plastic you are collecting a second chance. Design a heavy weight product with high life expectancy and with a brand that adds emotional value to the furniture.
It innovates in its aesthetics compared to the design line that follows the recycled products. It has been thought to attract users who are not related to the sustainable world, we would only like to also reach design customers and other mainstream customers who will get attracted to design for the first time and finally buy for the brand philosophy.
