Course Description

Tackling an economy of overconsumption by creating sustainable and responsible practices through the “unlearning” and “relearning” of how we think about using materials. RE(Purpose) is a course of hands-on making, where we will help create circularity in design, by using found materials in meaningful ways. As a studio-based course, with quick exercises to inform the process, students can explore how to prototype their passion project using repurposed material relative to their environment and will be assessed by the innovative application of the material. Exploration of material for prototyping will include: found plastics, metals, foam, paper, and textiles. Generations of craft communities internationally and domestically, rely on the complete utilization of materials to sustain a livelihood - so how can we as artisans and designers practice new methods of utilizing found or local materials while creatively manipulating them to execute design ambitions? Exploring and pushing the boundaries of our conditioned notions of materials, can we make textiles rigid, and make the concrete break with purpose?