This document summarizes a lecture on open design, crafts, and sustainability. It discusses how industrial design has contributed to pollution and waste. It proposes alternative approaches like upcycling, where waste materials are given new value. It presents the work of a group called OpenCrafts that promotes open and collaborative workshops, urban regeneration projects, and social innovation. OpenCrafts aims to make crafts more open and integrate them with new technologies while pursuing sustainability. Examples of its work include reinventing old furniture through upcycling and developing shared frameworks for sustainable production.

1. #opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen
Lecture – ViennaOpen 2013
“Open Design, Open Knowledge, Open Crafts”
Shared under CC-BY-SA 3.0 license
Credits: Francesco Fortino, Studio SUPERFLUO
Version 0.1alpha
Ecodesign,
Research
&
Social Innovation

2. WHO we are
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

3. WHO we are
industrial designers
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

4. What’s an industrial designer today?
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

5. "Today, industrial design has put murder on
a mass-production basis. [...] by creating
whole new species of permanent garbage to
clutter up the landscape, and by choosing
materials and processes that pollute the air
we breathe, designers have become a
dangerous breed.”
Victor Papanek, designer and educator
“Design for the real world: Human Ecology and Social Change”, 1972
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

6. WHAT we do
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

7. WHAT we do
workshops
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

8. WHAT we do
workshops
urban regeneration
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

9. Innovazione Sociale in brevissimo
workshops
urban regeneration
social innovation
INFRASTRUCTURES /
URBAN REGENERATION
VAL
UE
SA
N
WHAT we do
C
COMMITMENT,
SHARING AND
COMMON LIFE
LS
OO
T
D
SOCIAL
EQUITY
ECOLOGY
UPCYCLING
IDEE
DIGITAL
FABRICATION
JOBS
SOCIAL
INNOVATION
SHARED PRODUCTS
GARDENS
ECONOMY
Cash-in/Products-out
flow
MANAGEMENT
ECONOMICA
SUSTAINABIL
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

10. ESA
PR
TESTO
CON
M
RIO
ITO
RR
TE
WHAT we do
workshops
ECONOMIA
LOCALE urban regeneration
social innovation
self-construction
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

11. WHAT we do
workshops
urban regeneration
social innovation
self-construction
searching for sustainability
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

12. WHO we are
industrial designers?
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

13. WHO we are
industrial designers?
“eco” designers?
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

14. WHO we are
industrial designers?
“eco” designers?
odd craftsmans?
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

15. WHO we are
industrial designers?
“eco” designers?
odd craftsmans?
new age educators??
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

16. WHO we are
industrial designers?
“eco” designers?
odd craftsmans?
new age educators??
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

17. "Today, industrial design has put murder on a mass-production basis.
[...] by creating whole new species of permanent garbage to clutter up
the landscape, and by choosing materials and processes that pollute
the air we breathe, designers have become a dangerous breed.”
Victor Papanek, designer and educator
“Design for the real world: Human Ecology and Social Change”, 1972
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

18. What’s next?
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

19. The paradigm shift
Quantity
Quality
Product
Process
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

20. Before
After
R
>
rces
u
so
e
Pollution
?
Pollution
RELATIONS
Pollution
Ga
Waste
rba
PRODUCTION
RELATIONS
ge
Ga
Waste
rba
?
USAGE
RELATIONS
RE
TI
LA
RELATIONS
USE
ON
S
?
ge
DISPOSAL
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

21. The preconditions of the current system
1 It’s not possible to stop the input flow
of raw material in any way
2 It’s not possible to stop the output flow
of product in any way
3 The only significant output of the factory
is the product
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

22. R
rces
ou
es
After
Pollution
Pollution
Pollution
Ga
Waste
rba
ge
Ga
Waste
rba
USE
RE
LA
TI
ON
S
?
ge
DISPOSAL
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

23. Bad designs: Chipboard and PET
credits: D-Kuru / de.wikipedia.org / CC-BY-SA
credits: nicole gordine / en.wikipedia.org / CC-BY-SA
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

24. New theories for sustainable
production/living
Cradle to Cradle, Ecodesign, Systemic
Design, Natural Capitalism, Degrowth...
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

25. Many differences, but some shared
common principles
1 The outputs of a process are the inputs for another
2 The system is based on balanced and peer relations
3 The system is auto-poietic: it’s self-generating and co-evolve with
the territory
4 The system is local: it’s based on its cultural, human, and material
resources
5 Society is the centre of the system, designing for the humankind
and not for the economy
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

26. Makers, DIY addicts, self-producing designers,
artisans and so on are all contributing to the shift
from a semi-decentralized model to a distributed,
shared one, made beetween (almost) peers.
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

27. This is the context in which
OpenCrafts starts.
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

28. Definitions of craft
source: Wiktionary
1 Ability, dexterity, skill in making
plan and carrying the into
execution; dexterity in managing affairs,
adroitness; practical scunning.
2 (obsolete) Strenght, power, might.
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

29. Etymology of craft
source: Wiktionary
from Old English cræft:
strenght, might, courage, skill, art, ability
from Proto-Germanic kraftaz:
power
cognate with Dutch kracht; German kraft;
Swedish kraft; Icelandic kraftur:
strenght, force, power
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

30. Definitions of craft
source: Wiktionary
3 The members of a trade collectively, guild.
A guild is an association based on its trade. The guilds
centralized power and control over production and
knowledge during the 16th century.
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

31. Guilds had a rigid gradation of social ranks,
hindered technological innovation, locked their
knowledge into secrets and had a high
oppressor/oppressed ratio.
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

32. Free market allowed more flexible social
structures and easier know-how diffusion,
promoting innovation instead of blocking it.
It was more OPEN.
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

33. Approach comparison
Guildlike
Free market
Open
Vertical, highly hierarchical
centralized structure
Vertical, hierarchical
semi-decentralized structure
Horizontal, almost
non-hierarchical mesh structure
Secret, one-discipline
Private over public, multi-disciplinary
Public, multi-disciplinary
Hinders innovation,
creativity & self-initiative
Based on innovation,
creativity & self-initiative
but protects private use
Shares innovation,
creativity and knowledge, promotes
self-initiative
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

34. OpenCrafts’ aim
Open the traditionally closed crafts and
integrate them with the new,
while pursuing sustainability
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

35. OpenCrafts’ tools
Open, collaborative approach
Open, free culture license (CC-BY-SA)
Community-generated content
Upcycling as design method
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

36. Upcycling?
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

37. "Recycling," he said, "I call it downcycling. They smash bricks, they
smash everything. What we need is upcycling - where old products
are given more value, not less."
Reiner Pilz, enterpreneur
interview for Salvo, german magazine on architecture and design, 1994
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

38. Upcycling, the practice of converting waste materials into products
of greater value, is a philosophy that transforms the way we conceive
of waste. Upcycling is not just a solution to a problem, but a new
method of thinking about and working with an asset (formerly known
as garbage) which is already present in abundance
in our communities.
Gunter Pauli,
Economist, enterpreneur and environmentalist
from “Upsizing”, later translated with “Upcycling”, 1996
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

39. The Cradle to Cradle approach
product
use
disposal
Technical Nutrients
BiologicaI Nutrients
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

40. Approach A
Approach C
Upcycling!
Approch B
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

41. A quick focus on pallet’s lifecycle
Landfill
E.O.L.
End of Life
Downcycling
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

42. LANDFILL
METAL (nails, other parts)
WOOD
SHAVINGS
DOWNCYCLING
PELLET
METAL (nails, other parts)
WOOD
SHAVINGS
glues
fire-retardant agents
antimould agents
antifungine agents
other chemicals
CHIPBOARD!
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

43. An example:
Reinventing Wiener Werkstaette
Purkersdorf chair
by Josef Hoffmann
creating new value and benefits
through upcycling
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

44. Why Wiener Werkstaette?
1 We are in Vienna :)
2 They opposed the newborn industry
3 They wanted to realize the Gesamtkunstwerk,
the total work of art
4 but... they followed an old, closed production
model, which resembled guild’ approach for
several aspects
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

45. Why... pallets?
1 Pallets are not the “best” packaging material
to work with: you can find many kind of better
suited wood boxes in any industrial/commercial
zone
2 But... this needs time for search, while pallets
are the easiest to find
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

46. Start from Step 1
design an object to be durable
and easy to dismantle or dispose, according
to the raw material available and without mixing
technical/biological nutrients.
Benefits: obtain something that’s easy to
repair or dispose, working just with the material
needed to produce it.
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

47. Step 2
dismantle the pallet(s)
Benefits: retrieve the metal that will go back
to its technical cycle as technical nutrient,
becoming other nails.
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

48. Step 3
clean and smooth the wood
Benefits: obtain a semifinished product that
reveals its own aestethical properties and differs
from traditional wood.
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

49. Step 4
make/assemble the object or, alternatively,
a series of that objects
Benefits: obtain unique objects, each with its own
history and peculiar aestethical character.
Even if it’s repeated in-series, it won’t
never be the same.
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

50. EOL
the objects is broken, or becomes too old
Benefits: dismantle the object to reuse the wood and
the screws, or repair it; bury the wood as biological
nutrient; safely burn the wood for heat.
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

51. We designed something that
1
2
3
4
5
Is not a threat to the environment
Is not a threat to the humankind
Is long-lasting
Optimizes the use of resources
It’s a biological nutrient
(once at EOL, can safely feed the soil)
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

52. Next challenges?
1 Extend and integrate these key concepts
into the new emerging technologies such as
digital fabrication
2 Develop a shared, common and
OPEN framework about sustainable production
principles
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

53. From the last week we are designin an open
ebook with instruction to re-do the work
done in this workshop days. The aim of
this project is to understand if open ebook
can give more value to Opencrafts.org, and
what new ideas can come from open
digital publishing.
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

54. We’re working with Edilpaglia to share
knowledge and know-how about GREB
building tecnique and Permaculture.
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

55. We’re in contact with the Open Design +
Hardware group, which is developing the
Open Design Definition on Github.
design.okfn.org
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

56. We’re always searching for associations,
groups, partners, fablab and others to
let OpenCrafts grow, setting free
together all the knowledge!
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen

57. It was the last slide, so...
Is there any question?
(and many thanks for the patience!)
To download these slides and the alpha test
ebook go to @Studiosuperfluo Twitter account
or write to studio.superfluo@gmail.com
#opencrafts
#opendesign
#viennaopen