In the context of the PCAI Tilos Artist Residency Programme, the designers-in-residence The New Raw designed and implemented a participatory educational workshop, aiming to introduce the local community of Tilos to sustainable practices and upcycling. The workshop Beach Curtain focused on raising awareness of the usage of plastic by creating a curtain made out of microplastics and other recyclable materials, with the active contribution of the local community, including children, teenagers and adults.
During the workshop, the participants were invited to collect plastic waste from Eristos beach, on Tilos island, the first zero waste island in Greece. Then The New Raw based on the collected findings and objects introduced participants to the different types of plastic and how we can separate them correctly for them to be recycled. In the second phase, the plastic findings were sorted by size and colour. In the third phase, the participants creatively turned the plastic waste into beads to make a summer curtain, and then both kids and adults commonly created a colourful curtain. As an outcome and message of this workshop, the curtain symbolizes the necessity and significance of the collective effort toward environmental and coastline protection as well as towards a more green and sustainable future. The programme took place in Livadia, in Tilos, on August 25, 2022.
The New Raw is a research and design studio based in Rotterdam, Netherlands, founded in 2015 by architects Panos Sakkas and Foteini Setaki with the ambition to give new life to discarded materials through design, robots and craftsmanship. The New Raw has developed a growing body of work, which advocates for a sustainable use of plastic to spring positive environmental and societal impact. The design methodology of The New Raw is based on a trial-and-error approach and it is inherently related to the production technique and to material properties. Each design project starts with hands-on research to end up with a new digital workflow and engineered solutions.
Activity aligned with Goals 3, 4, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17
