Circular Design

Bringing creative design solutions to life with smart circular twists

Szilvia Szabó — Thu, 10 Oct 2024 13:46:28 +0000

Bringing creative design solutions to life with smart circular twists

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Circular Design

Circular Business

Recycling

Upcycling

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Circular Design

This article is part of the 'Celebrating Circular` initiative and story collection that spotlights trailblazer Irish businesses making strides towards a more sustainable and low-carbon economy.

Arriving in Ireland 11 years ago from Brazil, Caio Pazini had to look for opportunities to restart his life in a new country.

Working as a handyman and carpenter for two years gave him enough experience to start his own business, Forja Works, which offers design solutions with a twist: reusing perfectly good materials that no longer fulfil their original purpose and recycling as much as possible.

“I already had an eye for recycling as my family back in Brazil has been working in plastic recycling, so I knew more about this area.”

Initially, his main driver was to balance the lack of financial resources by saving materials instead of throwing them away.

Keeping materials in circularity

Having a background as an Environmental Engineer also helped him realise the potential of different materials while working on designs.

“I have the mindset of keeping materials in flow, whether through recycling, reusing or repurposing. I see endless possibilities when I look at designs or objects, imagining the best possible way to make them work.”

“When I look at designs or objects, I see endless possibilities, imagining the best way to reuse and repurpose materials.”

Caio Pazini, Founder of ForjaWorks

In the past years, Caio has worked on a wide variety of projects, from designing restaurant interiors and outdoor coffee areas to wardrobes and event installations.

In 2023, he was proud to divert over 2000 kg of discarded materials by breathing new life into them through his work.

“I’m at my best when I can work on the creative design while finding the best way to use materials all over again. I equally enjoy turning a piano into a bar and designing benches from recycled plastic.”

One of his recent projects was creating a ‘trash wave’ installation for KIA as part of their communication at the St Patrick's Festival. In this case, he had to demonstrate and visualise the plastic waste challenge by visualising the plastic journey.

Focusing on design longevity

Another area he focuses on is improving design longevity by using modular systems that allow him to replace or fix certain items without destroying or damaging the main structure.

For instance, he would adopt this approach at a coffee shop when creating fixed seating areas, making it possible to repair blocks instead of dismantling everything. Caio’s thinking goes beyond materials.

He added a ‘buy-back' service to his business, meaning he would offer partners a fair price to reclaim the materials he used when they no longer wanted them.

“Buying back materials from my clients allows me to redress or repurpose them and use them elsewhere. I have created a ‘library of materials' at my workshop so I can mix and match what I need according to the actual design I'm working on. This is a great deal for my partners, for my business and the environment.”

He aims to have a bigger facility where he can expand the ‘library of materials’ concept and scale this approach.

Exploring full circularity

Searching to take his ideas and enterprise to the next level led him to participate in the MODOS course.

“Being part of the programme helped me find new ways to finance my ideas and market our services and products besides rethinking my business model. The contacts and overall support were also beneficial. It also opened my eyes to carbon emissions and management and how to adopt it in a meaningful way to my company.”

An added value in joining the MODOS programme was to find a community where he was understood.

“It was nice to have a space where you are not considered weird because you want to do things differently.”

Building a three-pillar system

Talking about plans, he adds that his goal is to build a three-pillar system that can cover all aspects of being circular from start to finish.

“I have opened a new business focusing on producing recycled plastic sheets, so we can handle the manufacturing while our Studio creates the design and the original ForjaWorks enterprise delivers projects.

This way, we can offer a fully circular solution that ensures the best use of materials throughout the entire process.”

Although the advantages of adopting this approach are clear, he admits that convincing people to invest in a more long-term solution and consider their impact is challenging.

In 2023, Forja Works diverted over 2000 kg of discarded materials by breathing new life into them through creative design.

Staying and growing local

On top of working on circular solutions, Caio feels strongly about keeping everything local and avoiding imports as much as possible to reduce emissions and create more jobs locally.

“I hope to become a pioneer in this sector and lead by example. This also means I need to pave the way first, which takes a lot of energy and time.”

To walk to talk, he is keen to run his business responsibly. I

ntegrating solar panels and electric vehicles into their operations is part of their ambitious carbon emission reduction plan, and playing an active part in hosting the Canal Cleaning events in Portobello in Dublin is also on the agenda.

In the midst of running and expanding his business, Caio says it is hard to balance and find time to switch off, but luckily, his work is also his passion.

“I’m full of ideas but also need to keep the focus on the business to make things work. What keeps me grounded is the actual craft, making things with my hand. It is satisfying turning materials into creations and seeing things shaping up by your hand.”

Explore other inspirational stories as part of the Celebrating Circular initiative supported by the Regional Waste Management Planning Offices and Dublin City Council.

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Challenging the fast fashion machine and shifting mindsets

Szilvia Szabó — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 13:17:56 +0000

Challenging the fast fashion machine and shifting mindsets

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This article is part of the 'Celebrating Circular` initiative and story collection that spotlights trailblazer Irish businesses making strides towards a more sustainable and low-carbon economy.

The fashion industry is infamous for exploiting natural and human resources and is estimated to be responsible for 10% of global carbon emissions, more than international flights and maritime shipping combined.

Textile production alone is causing 20% of water pollution globally while using clean water supplies on a massive scale. According to an EU report, producing one cotton t-shirt requires about 2,700 litres of fresh water, which would be enough to meet one person’s drinking needs for 2.5 years.

The list of environmental and ethical issues that need to be addressed in the fashion industry could go on, raising the question of whether we can really change all of them.

Launching an ethical circular fashion brand

Sandra Murphy has over two decades of experience in the global fashion industry, including working as a designer for various leading American fashion brands such as Victoria’s Secret, Gap and Hanes while running her own small independent label while living in New York.

“I’ve seen how mass production works and also did boutique scale design, learning from both sides, which inspired me to search for ways to improve things.”

After 16 years of fast-paced New York life, she returned to Ireland determined to start with a blank canvas and launch a fashion brand that would reflect her learnings and values.

Sandra Murphy, Founder of AFORE AFTER ethical circular fashion brand

“My question was how to challenge a system that has been working in a specific way for decades."

Exploring circular and sustainability angles relentlessly

She started to explore every angle of creating a brand and product that is entirely circular and sustainable, looking at aspects from selecting garments to design, manufacturing and logistics.

“I found that small things like removing a plastic tag from the garment can make a difference, and using ethical and sustainable certified materials are not making production drastically more expensive.”

Even naming her business AFORE AFTER encapsulates her commitment to considering the before-and-after stages and moving away from the linear thinking that only focuses on the before part but ignores what happens with an item after its use.

Admittedly, Sandra is still figuring out how to make her business completely sustainable, but she has already created some groundbreaking solutions.

Dealing with the complexity of garments

In her quest to use a genuinely sustainable material, she realised that the complexity of garments is an issue when it comes to recycling.

This motivated Sandra to design the ETERNAL, a synthetic-free, mono-material and biodegradable garment with zero post-consumer waste that practically can remove all technical necessity for plastic and polyester materials, delivering a truly recyclable solution.

Besides material innovation, she spotted another opportunity to fight the throwaway culture and create a circular clothing option.

So, she came up with a creative design for the ETERNAL collection that would allow this clothing to be styled in 12 different ways, expanding the use of the same piece.

“If we’re going to move away from fast fashion, every single item in our wardrobe needs to work harder. I wanted to challenge the idea that a garment can only serve one or two purposes.”

The creative design of the ETERNAL collection would allow this clothing to be styled in 12 different ways, expanding the use of the same piece and fighting the throw-away culture.

The power of exchanging ideas and experiences

Sandra is keen to learn and expand her horizons, so it was a no-brainer for her to join the MODOS circular business course.

“I was probably more prepared from the circular economy point of view, but other areas like communication and customer engagement were certainly less known to me, and the course provided an excellent insight into these areas. Working with a mentor also helped a lot in translating what I learned into everyday situations.”

Another valuable part for her was that she could exchange ideas and experiences with other businesses.

She recalls that managing sustainable packaging was a common issue for everyone in her group, regardless of their sectors.

“I decided to use paper packaging and eliminate plastic completely. I use a solution that I call a “bagvelope”, which is a mix between a delivery bag and an envelope.

I prefer this even if it means that sometimes I have to take a return due to delivery damage from rain.”

Sandra learned unexpected things during the MODOS course, and she says that no matter what level you are at, there will be something you can take from this learning experience.

There’s no copy-paste solution for a sustainable, circular business

“Sustainability in general is not figured out. You can’t blindly follow and adopt a model like a copy-paste solution. There’s a learning curve in this for everyone.”

Sandra says there's a lot to do in not just educating businesses but consumers, especially when it comes to fashion.

"When you buy an organic banana, you know exactly what that means.

But when you say sustainability in fashion, it can mean many things, and you should definitely look beyond using recycled materials, not to mention anything about production or other areas.

However, limited knowledge and a lack of transparency make greenwashing and influencing people easy enough.”

The additional hurdle of shifting mindsets

She adds that due to the complexity of fashion and the massive communication budget, big brands spend on “brainwashing” people to keep buying new stuff, making it very difficult to change how things work.

“I have a strict transparency policy so my buyers can see exactly what makes up the pricing.”

Sandra plans to build her business on the two pillars of product innovation and knowledge sharing, addressing both raising awareness and providing a solution to make fashion more sustainable.

Explore other inspirational stories as part of the Celebrating Circular initiative supported by the Regional Waste Management Planning Offices and Dublin City Council.

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Blending science, community and nature in modern Irish spirits with pro-social disruption

Szilvia Szabó — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 14:47:56 +0000

Blending science, community and nature in modern Irish spirits with pro-social disruption

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This article is part of the 'Celebrating Circular` initiative and story collection that spotlights trailblazer Irish businesses making strides towards a more sustainable and low-carbon economy.

There are many ways to design an innovative product, develop a community, or care for the environment, but doing all these things together is extremely rare.

Blending science, community and nature makes creating modern Irish spirits different at Dublin-based Stillgarden Distillery.

“We call this pro-social disruption,” explains Viki Baird, Co-Founder, also known as the Boss Lady.

This approach has led the enterprise to win multiple awards since its launch in 2020, but that's more of an indicator that they are on the right path rather than a driver.

“We keep production independent and local in every bit of what we do, focusing on building a community and giving back besides running a business.”

Viki Baird, Co-Founder of Stillgarden Distillery

Recognising potential

Managing a community garden might be the most obvious manifestation of this mindset, as she shares that this element of the business is her pride and joy.

“We are based in an up-and-coming neighbourhood in Dublin 8, which didn't have the best reputation. There was an abandoned land close to us that was a hub for antisocial behaviour, where we saw the potential to create a community garden. Everyone said we were mad, and it will never work.”

With the support from Dublin City Council, they turned the site into a flourishing garden, which now plays a vital part in creating their products while inviting people to become part of a new type of community.

“We have our ups and downs, including a constant fight against vandalism, but eventually, as we hosted programmes and kept the garden open, it started attracting more people from the neighbourhood.”

Grow kits used in the Social Botanist Project

The birth of the Social Botanist Project

When COVID and lockdowns hit, they were still early in the development phase of the garden, so they created the Social Botanist project to give herb growing kits to out-of-work bartenders to take home and bring back grown plants.

Using these plants to populate the garden sparked the idea to use the two plants that thrived the most, mint and lavender, as ingredients to create their flagship Social Gin.

Harnessing a pro-social attitude and leading with sustainability

In addition to the garden, other business areas also reflect their pro-social attitude.

“We use motion-activated lights, reuse packaging that comes in with our supplies and run a bottle brought back scheme where we give discounts or free products for glasses that customers return.”

Viki explains that in production, they use vacuum distillation, which requires less energy while capturing the essence of ingredients, resulting in beautiful flavours.

“We are also mindful of food waste and aim to repurpose byproducts in making ice cream and tea bags. We give away what we cannot use to local chicken farmers, and we even have a tradition of collaborating with local bakers to make Christmas gin cakes using our byproducts.”

Stillgarden Distillery is also committed to the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan, an initiative to protect pollinators such as bees and butterflies and ensure their vital role in Ireland’s ecosystem.

Their garden has dedicated sections that are maintained to go a little more “wild” to encourage a diverse range of pollinators.

Questioning the obvious to adopt changes for a more sustainable business

On a personal level, Viki doesn't like waste, which comes across in how she manages every aspect of the business.

“I feel passionate about avoiding waste and questioning what we are doing and why.”

Sharing what they have learned is also important to her, and she was thrilled to give a lecture as part of the MODOS sustainable business course.

“I think this programme gives participants a great overview with practical examples so they can challenge the obvious with more confidence.”

Building meaningful connections and empowering the local community

Being sociable and enjoying connecting with people makes it easier for Viki to build meaningful relationships with others, whether she visits their stockist, hosts events, or meets with their gardening community.

“We offer a lot of points for connection through having a lovely visitor centre, hosting the social botanist events or running tasting events and masterclasses where people can create their own spirit by choosing from about 110 ingredients.”

It is a lot to look after, and being a business owner is a 24/7 job for Viki, but nature walks with her husband and cycling clear her head and refresh her thoughts when needed.

Looking at what they have achieved in Dublin 8 regarding transforming a community, she envisions replicating this model and starting to create small local communities, potentially with production sites in other parts of Ireland and abroad in the future.

“Using our pro-social approach to change other underdeveloped areas would be an amazing opportunity to scale our impact and improve people's lives.”

The Social Gin is Ireland’s first community produced gin made with mint and lavender grown by Social Botanists at home and then planted in Stillgarden Community Garden.

Explore other inspirational stories as part of the Celebrating Circular initiative supported by the Regional Waste Management Planning Offices and Dublin City Council.

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Leading a cosmetic revolution to leave the world “lusher than we found it”

Szilvia Szabó — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 14:15:21 +0000

Leading a cosmetic revolution to leave the world “lusher than we found it”

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Sustainable Business

Circular Design

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Sustainable business

This article is part of the 'Celebrating Circular` initiative and story collection that spotlights trailblazer Irish businesses making strides towards a more sustainable and low-carbon economy.

From skincare to haircare, beauty products are part of our everyday lives, and the industry has significant environmental and social implications ranging from ethical production to animal rights or the use of natural resources and chemicals, besides adding to the global waste crisis through packaging.

With a radical approach to going against mainstream wasteful and harmful beauty industry practices, Lush has become a trailblazer in sustainable and fair beauty since its launch in the UK in 1995.

Their mission is driven by innovation and ethics to create beauty products for every need and lead a cosmetic revolution to save the planet with the ultimate goal of leaving the world ‘Lusher than we found it’.

The ‘Naked’ approach

Niamh Doyle, Lush Store Manager at Henry Street in Dublin, says that one of the most revolutionary things customers appreciate is the company's ‘naked approach’, which transcends every aspect of the business, from product development to communication and packaging.

Considering that 95% of cosmetic packaging is thrown away, the ‘naked’ approach makes a real difference in avoiding unnecessary waste, but it goes beyond that.

“Community is at the heart of everything we do, and by becoming a manager, it is my role to consistently understand and nurture our community, including our team, partners and customers.”

The "naked" bathbomb is one of the signature products Lush introduced without using extra packaging.

Making sustainability fun and exciting for people to get involved

When she started working here, Niamh was impressed by the brand’s values and communication.

She says, “Although the Lush is very serious about its impact and the challenges we face, it makes it more fun and less scary for people to get involved and make better choices.”

She emphasises the importance of having conversations with customers besides putting out communication materials and running campaigns.

Niamh thinks that plays a vital role in helping them better understand the impact they can have by choosing Lush and having their staff listen to them and understand what matters to them.

“The support we get from the company in communication is great, but we need to find ways to find what matters locally. For instance, we are just about to launch a new climate change campaign where we will invite Irish organisations to host community events at our store and talk about climate action in a local context.”

The Bring It Back recycling scheme

One of the most popular action-oriented initiatives Niamh highlights is their Bring It Back recycling scheme, where customers can return clean plastic bottles and pots for a discount or free product in exchange for their efforts.

“Although we try to avoid packaging as much as possible, with this initiative, we aim to recycle what we use at the Lush Green Hub in the UK.”

In addition to products, Niamh adds that running the store with sustainability in mind is also part of their goals, which inspired her to join the MODOS sustainability course and learn more about circular and sustainable practices.

Addressing sustainability challenges locally

“We have sustainability challenges like managing water consumption, cardboard, or waste. As a shop located in the city centre, there are waste management issues we can't overcome at the moment, such as not being able to have a compost bin, which we would normally have at other stores.”

Although Niamh knew about the circular economy, she realised that she could always learn something new, and joining MODOS helped her explore areas that challenged her thinking.

“The course was designed in a way that made you think. Nothing was good or bad, which allowed you to rethink and question practices or assumptions.

I particularly liked the concept of how businesses could learn from nature in terms of strategy or having a regenerative approach to how they operate.”

On a practical level, the MODOS training was a real booster for looking at the store’s carbon footprint and integrating this thinking into managing her team by taking an everyday approach.

Creating a blueprint for a more holistic, nature-focused business approach

Lush has created a blueprint for implementing a more holistic, nature-focused approach as a company, and Niamh feels that other businesses can capitalise on that.

“We think about the entire journey with a customer in mind and how they will use and discard products. For instance, we don`t use anything that would release microplastics in addition to other sustainability considerations.”

Today, Lush has over 850 shops and operates in 50 countries, working to create a company culture that inspires them.

Lush`s Cork Pot is a carbon-positive piece of packaging that is 100% natural, reusable, and biodegradable.

Nurturing a motivational environment

“I really appreciate the motivational atmosphere and positive attitude here, which helps make challenging situations more manageable without too much anxiety.

The mindset of ‘What can I do today to make it better?’ keeps you more grounded.”

She shares that one of her favourite innovations at Lush is the Cork Pot, a product container made out of cork.

This carbon-positive piece of packaging can help customers enjoy their products longer while being 100% natural, reusable, and biodegradable.

Explore other inspirational stories as part of the Celebrating Circular initiative supported by the Regional Waste Management Planning Offices and Dublin City Council.

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