MULTIFUNCTIONAL PRODUCTS FOR THE HOME WITH MEGAN KEELING
This month’s theme explores sustainability, calling on emerging talent to understand the importance of using sustainable products and reusable materials when designing.
Carry on reading to discover what inspires these designers on a daily basis and listen to their trend predictions around sustainability in the design industry.
INTRODUCING THE DESIGNER
I use my passion for interiors and the environment to create multifunctional products for the home. I focus my work around natural and waste materials adding these into slip, from which interesting textures are created when fired.
I’ve always been creative from a young age and knew by high school that I’d love to have a creative career and hoped to go on to study a creative subject at university. After studying both art and design at a level I then went onto the 3D Designer Maker course at Staffordshire University which for me offered the perfect balance of designing and making. Over my three years there, I developed my ceramic skills, starting by adding texture into moulds to cast from which then developed into adding natural materials into slip in order to create texture in the ceramics when fired.
Personally I think being sustainable is really important. Currently I do think that sustainability is a trend, but long term, things needs to change in order to look after and preserve the world and by designing with a conscience and making work as sustainable as possible this will hopefully lead to other people making more sustainable decisions which will have a positive benefit on everyone.
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What inspires you most on a day to day basis?
As much as it sounds cliché, I’d say nature. I love spending time outdoors whether that be on walks or in my garden growing plants. When I began adding natural materials into my work i started with found materials from the soil in my garden followed by lettuce seeds. This was my way of using nature in my work. After experimenting with these natural materials, my next step was to add waste materials to my work, in the hope of preventing these items from going into landfill and therefor protecting nature.
What’s your go to stimulus when you start to create work?
I love to look back at my old work and see how I can evolve certain elements into a completely new and exciting concept. By doing this I think my work has a sense of continuity to it. This paired with making lots of mood boards is how all of my designs begin.
What do you think is the most sustainable product and why?
The most sustainable product that inspires me would be CArrelé – The Calcium Brick collection. They use egg shell to create tiles. Having used egg shell in my earthenware lights, the way they use it to create new functional objects really inspires me and I’m excited to see what else they create as well as how else I can use egg shell in my own work.
How do you think trends will change as the design word becomes more sustainable?
I’d like to think that as the design world becomes more sustainable that sustainability will no longer be a trend, but a way of life and something that is expected when buying a product.
