The Metamorphose Project.
The Metamorphose project seeks to establish the basis of a new paradigm dealing with the design of consumer products, by applying Rapid Prototyping (RP) technology in new and innovative ways. The idea is to create new objects while taking into account their eventual transformation with RP, either through personalization or by updating their functionality and their esthetics and thus giving them new life. The metamorphosis of form, function, texture or colour aims to increase products’ durability and offer a significant alternative to the model of ever more rapid esthetic and technical obsolescence that currently dominates the commercial landscape, at great environmental cost. This new organic model of product generation based on the potential of RP offers an as yet untapped potential and could lead to a new, innovative shape vocabulary.
The first phase of this project focused on giving new life to products that are usually discarded. In the second phase, the research team designed objects from scratch – a number of lamps – while anticipating a second life from the initial stages of the design process. The various projects are described and show the potential of the Metamorphosis strategy as a new tool for sustainable design.
(Lalande, P. and Racine, M. (2006) The Metamorphosis of Products: a Sustainable Design Strategy That Favours Increased Attachment, in Fifth International Conference Design & Emotion 2006, Goteborg, Sweden)
Chercheurs
Philippe Lalande, Professeur agrégé, Université de Montréal
Martin Racine, Professeur agrégé, Concordia University - Design and Computation Arts
Projets
With the rapid change of consumer trends and the evolution of technology, users are losing the emotional attachment they used to have with their belongings. At an increasing rate, people replace their products, even if still fully functional. The idea of throwaway consumption is now spreading to “hard” consumer goods: computers and electronic apparatus, leisure equipment, domestic appliances, etc. and this is having disastrous effects on the environment. How can this make sense in the perspective of sustainable development? The Metamorphosis approach: a strategy based on the idea that objects could change and evolve through time, thus promoting stronger emotional ties with their owners who would be less inclined to throw them away. A number of experiments were conducted, showing that Rapid Prototyping technology can be used to transform and modify products.
