Maxwell Ashford: RUEI-01, Sustainable un-manufacturing
Sustainable designer Maxwell Ashford’s sensibilities revolves around the ecological impact of
producing and consuming objects. Maxwell utilises new approaches in technologies, materials and systems to change the way we produce, consume and discard, embracing this full-circle
philosophy, Ashford’s design project RUEI-01 merges AI and design to tackle the sustainability of both the manufacturing and un-manufacturing of products.
RUEI-01 uses existing technologies to help identify materials before recycling begins, making the process much more systematic.
ECAL graduate Maxwell Ashford proposes that existing technologies can be used to make recycling processes much more efficient. He suggests that if data were used to show what materials products were manufactured with, that data could be used in their “unmanfacturing”, meaning the disassembling and separating out the materials would be more accurate and labour saving.
If the process of recycling could be improved to this kind of degree, it would mean that recycled materials could compete better with virgin materials in terms of cost and availability, and the demands on the world’s finite resources would be reduced.
Ashford uses the shoe industry as a conceptual starting point for RUEI-01, pointing out that shoes always wear out but are rarely even partially recyclable.
Ashford was selected by acclaimed platform Design Indaba to present his project as part of the 2021 antenna edition during Dutch Design Week.
For more of the presentations from antenna 2021 and for inspiring design talks and interviews from the best thinkers in the world, subscribe to the Design Indaba YouTube channel.
RUEI-01 is a 4IR solution for SDG 12: Responsible consumption and production.
Maxwell is part of the fifth antenna conference, a collaboration between Design Indaba and the Dutch Design Foundation, which is currently taking place as part of the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven.