Yao Yao

RETHINK MATERIAL｜ZERO WASTE

Sustainability has become a common topic in the art field. But in the six years of living in London, I noticed that trash sorting and recycling does not seem to have attracted much attention in our life. And the recycling system and management also need to be improved.

The starting point of this project focuses on the most common of recyclable materials - waste paper. I have restructured and reorganised the waste paper as a raw material. I used the raw material combining traditional paper-making and herbal dyeing techniques to design a collection. These design pieces are recyclable and have zero waste.

My previous project was about reshaping recycled paper with coffee grounds. I developed the ideas with dyeing by Chinese herbs and the craft of paper-making in this project.

The design ideas spired by the Chinese pattern and macrame design. In the technical part, I tried to mix the colour of the herbs with traditional papermaking, macrame techniques and crochet.

 I hope to help the protecting natural environment and social development through my designs and ideas. The materials are 100% naturally degradable and provide benefits to human health.

The herbs I use for dyeing can treat various ailments, such as cough, eye pain, stomach pain, high blood pressure, etc. Suitable for daily wear. My final works can be transferred to hats or handbags. Plant seeds are added to the paper beans of the designs. The product can be used to grow plants after stopping using it in the future. It could achieve the purpose of sustainable development.

Through this project, I hope people can realise that recycling can also help sustainable development in our daily life. Everyone should be involved. It can make our world better and better.