INTERACTION WITH ENVIRONMENT
- HABITAT
(Upcycling project at APOPHENIA, in 2016)
(APOPHENIA, a design studio paid attention to the environment and connections within communities)
Habitat was commissioned as a conference gift appropriate to a lecture series based on environmental protection. Twinned with APOPHENIA’s upcycling ethics, the result was a playful integration of two forms of environmental interaction. First, the gift consisted of a glass container protecting a small habitat based on either dry or humid conditions. Second, the bottles themselves were upcycled from local bars and restaurants, collected by an NGO committed to reducing Hong Kong’s waste.
Environmental policies are often communicated as dramatic imperatives: Reduce! Reuse! Recycle! However, sometimes softer tactics, such as relational narratives, make a more long-lasting impression on peoples’ behaviour. Habitat combined an attractive product with education on the shocking fact that it takes glass at least a million years to decompose. Thus, there is a striking mismatch between the life cycle of the bottle, and the vegetation APOHENIA placed within, prompting the person caring for the plant, to also take better care of their material practices.
