Phone Holder V1 by Anya Muangkote
Plastic Twins by Hutsama Juntaratana
Recompose by Nutdao
Last Impression by Lili Tae
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Name of the submitted project or idea (in English or both English and your language)
Regen Districts
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URL of a video introducing the work（under 5 minutes）
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Detailed explanation of the submitted project or idea (in English or both English and your language)
Since open data of biomaterials is not widely recognised in Thailand yet, it is a great opportunity to create public awareness and enlarge the international community by co-developing a project with Materiom. By partnering with local cafes/restaurants to create materials/objects with organic waste/resources produced within selected district(s) in Bangkok — through a series of workshops, this collaboration can lead to an impactful action that nourishes local creative processes.
As biomaterials advocates, we believe that knowledge sharing/exchange is imperative. One of our main goals is to empower the community not only to work with regenerative materials but also connect locally and globally — in order to inspire each other collectively. -
How does your work address the 3 P’s (for Planet, for People, for Profit) for Sustainability?
Planet:
In an endeavour to cultivate a circular economy and regenerative practices, we ensure that all the ingredients provided for the creation of biomaterials are 100% non-toxic and biodegradable (home/marine compostable). By sourcing and producing locally, people are encouraged to collect food waste at their closest location with the data provided on our map, minimising the carbon footprint and increasing waste reduction in landfills.
Refraining from using finite resources, we choose to only work with naturally renewable and abundant resources that are nutrient-rich (high in organic matter), where their end-of-life can be repeatedly broken down and replenish the land or even restore biodiversity.
People:
We empower people to grow their crafts domestically with our data and guidance. The nature of this project gives the general public a sense of agency where everyone and anyone can create biomaterials by themselves at home.
By enriching the communities with the knowledge of how to utilise their landscape and accessible materials, the fresh approaches from the assemblage of local artists and creatives in Thailand can bring new perspectives to the global community; culturally and aesthetically. Opening up new possibilities that are yet to be explored.
Profit:
With the extremely low energy use in production, there are less electricity bills. In some circumstances, businesses have to pay the government to get rid of their waste and byproducts. This could be a great opportunity to reduce the expenses if every sector perceives waste as food and resources.
By setting examples of how we envision alternatives to conventional materials, we hope our project inspires the industries to tap into potential markets where businesses can sell their byproducts to producers/suppliers or work collaboratively with people across fields to eliminate waste in their current supply chain altogether. -
Keywords
#FoodWaste #Biomaterials #Community
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If you have a website for your submitted project or idea, please provide the URL
https://regendistricts.com/
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If you have a social media account for your submitted project or idea, please provide the URL
https://www.instagram.com/regendistricts/
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Special Prize Question 1: "Empowering nature to create a new loop”: How does your work strengthen or support nature’s ability to capture and convert waste into valuable resources? How does your work advance industry practices by introducing nature-positive alternatives?
Shifting away from petroleum-based materials, we capture numerous waste streams and add value to these organic matters by providing knowledge on biomaterials development to the creative industries and the public.
Shortly after introducing people to nature-positive alternatives, we have received traction from artists, designers, material scientists, college students, business owners, chefs, project managers, researchers, and more. Ultimately, one of our most important goals is to foster collaboration across interdisciplinary practices. We hope to grow the community through our online platform and series of workshops, talks, showcases and exhibitions. -
Special Prize Question 2: “Regenerating ecosystems”: In what inspiring ways does your work contribute to the restoration and stabilization of natural ecosystems?
We strive towards the restoration and stabilisation of natural ecosystems as mentioned above on how our work addresses the 3 P’s (the Planet part).
To summarise:
In an endeavour to cultivate a circular economy and regenerative practices,
• We only use 100% naturally biodegradable ingredients/materials (home/marine compostable).
• There is no toxicity released during the production and no harmful chemicals leak into the environment when biodegraded.
• We keep waste away from landfills and minimise the carbon footprint by sourcing and producing locally (guiding people to collect food waste at their closest location with the data provided on our map).
• We refrain from using finite resources by using naturally renewable and abundant resources that are nutrient-rich (high in organic matter).
• These nutrient-rich ingredients can be repeatedly broken down and replenish the land or even restore biodiversity. -
Special Prize Question 3: “Education and storytelling”: How does your work make complex bioeconomy concepts accessible and engaging?
We empower people to grow their crafts domestically with our open-source data and guidance, using readily available ingredients and tools. The nature of this project gives the general public a sense of agency where everyone and anyone can easily create biomaterials by themselves at home. While instructions on how to develop biomaterials are available, the information on sourcing ingredients locally is still inaccessible. Digital exchange/platforms can increase accessibility, make the local community visible, connect like-minded people, and create an inviting environment for newcomers. For instance, people can search and add real-time information about food waste collecting points, the up-to-date aspect contributes to the resilient ability to prepare for a transition to bioeconomy.
Additionally, we curated an online platform, inviting several artists and designers with various practices and approaches to showcase possibilities through their works. So the general audience can get familiar with the ideas of transforming mundane matters like coffee grounds, eggshells, seafood shells, and fruit peels, into products, art pieces, organic dyes, and much more. Through their creative processes, we conducted workshops tailored to their styles and guided them towards the implementation of biomaterials into their new/current work. The online gallery is visual-based (more photos, concise texts) because it was designed to be easily grasped and engaging. The short interview from each artist can be found on the platform where they share feedback and challenges through their experiences in a personal manner for insightful storytelling.
