Glacial Bio-Pottery | Alice Sowa

Name of the submitted project or idea (in English or both English and your language)

Glacial Bio-Pottery
URL of a video introducing the work（under 5 minutes）
Detailed explanation of the submitted project or idea (in English or both English and your language)

Glacial Bio-Pottery is a material and process driven exploration of reformulating the ceramic slip casting process for the nomadic creative to make the ceramic practice more accessible and utilize local waste stream systems. The dish set Glacial Bio-Pottery explores Iceland’s unlikely resources for form, mold, and casting materials to create bio-based dishes inspired by Iceland’s ash covered glaciers. Bio-Pottery takes advantage of local waste stream systems to divert these valuable resources into a circular creative process. The “three” step process of the Glacial Bio-Pottery dish set is of form, mold, and casting, where each step utilizes different waste streams in Iceland; waste wool for form development, paper waste for mold making, and food waste for slip casting. Each step has the ability to be recycled in the Bio-Pottery process and at the end of its usability return to the soil through composting. The process of Bio-Pottery evokes an intimate and transparent connection with waste materials that can be adapted to anywhere. Bio-Pottery encourages creatives to engage with their community for material possibilities of reformulating ceramic slip casting. By involving one’s community while researching local resources it opens up meaningful conversations of waste, recycling, upcycling, and collaborations with unlikely industries. Bio-Pottery can be practiced in a home studio allowing greater accessibility to the ceramic practice and use for other creative disciplines.
How does your work address the 3 P’s (for Planet, for People, for Profit) for Sustainability?

The process of Bio-Pottery addresses the 3 P's in a variety of ways. The waste stream resources used support a circular process method that diverts waste materials from landfill/incineration/pollution. The profit from this divergence can be seen in expense savings of disposing "waste" materials and instead upcycling it into valuable resources. Creatives with different artistic and design practices can benefit from the Bio-Pottery process as it is a more finically and accessible approach to ceramics or other material based projects.
Where (country, region, etc.) have you primarily carried out your project?

Blönduós, Iceland
What is the timeline your project has taken place over?

January - March 2023
Keywords

#Biomaterial #Research #Circulardesign
If you have a website for your submitted project or idea, please provide the URL

https://class.textile-academy.org/2023/alice-sowa/Glacial%20Bio%20Pottery/
If you have a social media account for your submitted project or idea, please provide the URL
Special Prize Question 1: Is there a mechanism in place to inherit culture and industry as assets for people living in that area 100 or even 1000 years from now?
Special Prize Question 2: What is the positive impact on biodiversity? Is the project creating a cycle not just from a human-centered perspective but for the entire ecosystem?

The process of Bio-Pottery uses waste stream resources as "new materials" and diverts them from polluting the local ecosystems.
Special Prize Question 3: Are you enabling new forms of collaboration with others? New forms of collaboration might include cross-industry cooperation, co-creation with consumers, or role transformations within the supply chain.

Bio-Pottery encourages creatives to engage with their community for material possibilities of reformulating ceramic slip casting. By involving one’s community for resources it opens up meaningful conversations of waste, recycling, upcycling, and collaborations with unlikely industries.