Students from Xanthe Matychak’s Make Better Stuff lab at Ithaca College hosted a public laser-cutter demo at Ithaca Generator for November’s First Friday in Ithaca. The Make Better Stuff Lab is a course Xanthe developed for IC freshmen where they learn about sustainable design principles and then design and manufacture a product that uses those principles. During the First Friday Demo, the class fielded several great questions from observers. Here are some examples:
WHAT IS THE ASSIGNMENT? This project started with a walk in the woods. In teams of two or three, students picked out a leaf from their walk, researched that leaf, then created designs inspired by that leaf.
WHAT ARE THE CONSTRAINTS? All good projects have constraints. There were many for this project, some that are plain old sustainable design principles and some specific to a class of 20 manufacturing a product. All the constraints function to help exercise the students’ imaginations–constraints help to push materials, processes, and ideas beyond the obvious.
WHAT ARE SUSTAINABLE DESIGN PRINCIPLES? There are many, but this class was working with the following:
•Celebrate nature
•Use responsibly-sourced materials
•Optimize your design for manufacturing
•Minimize packaging
•Turn something old into something new
WHY DO YOU CHOOSE DESIGNS THAT CELEBRATE NATURE? Last year we hosted laser-cut design studios at the generator for the general public; they created designs and cut them out on the laser. Most folks would make beautiful geometric designs, but every so often someone wanted to recreate a corporate logo. Most corporate logos are designed by large marketing teams, but we don’t want to unselfconsciously promote corporations at the expense of celebrating nature. I’d rather promote originality. What we make is what we value.
WHAT MATERIALS ARE YOU USING? The generator uses FSC Ash veneer ordered from Certainly Wood in East Aurora, NY. Veneer is super-thin slices of wood that come rolled up but can be flattened out, rough-cut to size and then cut on the laser. It’s a beautiful material, it smells great, and the variety used is Forest Stewardship Council-approved
HOW DO YOU OPTIMIZE FOR MANUFACTURING? The laser cutter can cut very intricate designs, but it can also create a lot of waste material as by-product and it uses a lot of energy. To address these downsides, the students lay out their designs so that there is minimal waste. Some even used the negative space created by their primary designs to make more designs.
HOW DO WE MINIMIZE PACKAGING? Packaging serves two functions: it protects the product (in shipping and in the store) and it tells the story of product. So the students have had to design packaging that both protects and sells the product, using minimal materials. Many of them have creatively used recycled card stock for packaging.
HOW DO WE TURN SOMETHING OLD INTO SOMETHING NEW? There are at least two approaches to this: 1) take a discarded object and create a design that gives it a new use. Some of my students, for example, are taking old jelly jars and designing votive shades that transform them into candle holders. 2) build into one design a second use. Some students, for example, embedded flower seeds into their packaging so that when it’s composted it will sprout flowers.
That, in a nutshell, is what the Make Better Stuff lab is trying to do. In December there will be a gallery night sale where students will sell their products. To prepare them, Emily Cotman from The Science Center and Stephanie Meyer (pictured above) from Museum of the Earth sat down with students and provided information on the types of products that sell in their museum shops. Emily and Stephanie were so generous with their time, and their feedback was exactly what was needed to reach the final stage of this project. Keep an eye out for the Make Better Stuff DIY Gift Sale in December at Ithaca Generator!
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20151116142423989