RCA Students Look Towards Sustainability to Design a Green ‘Paradise’ at the Milan Furniture Fair

For their show at this year's <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/milan-furniture-fair">Milan Furniture Fair</a>, the <a title="RCA Paradise" href="http://paradise.rca.ac.uk/" target="_blank">Royal College of Art</a> (RCA) asked students think about "something or somewhere more wondrous". Rallied by the desire for change, and compelled by a dissatisfaction with the present, it's no surprise that so many of them decided to tackle environmental issues in their quest for a better future. Check out some of the highlights from RCA's <a title="RCA Paradise" href="http://paradise.rca.ac.uk/" target="_blank">Paradise</a> show ahead!

Time Shop by <a title="Livia Lima" href="http://www.livialima.com" target="_blank">Livia Lima</a> is a pop up art and design store where you buy objects with time rather than money. The installation raises "pertinent questions regarding the urgent redesign of our current economic system".

Using the principles of a candy-floss machine, <a title="The Polyfloss Factory" href="http://www.thepolyflossfactory.com" target="_blank">The Polyfloss Factory</a>, by Nick Paget, Emile De Visscher, Christophe Machet and Audrey Gaulard, transforms waste plastic into an easily-formable, colorful raw material. It is a playful way to deal with a serious problem while giving plastic products the chance of a second incarnation.

Geodesic by <a title="Daniel Swann" href="http://www.danielswann.com" target="_blank">Daniel Swann</a> is a reaction to finite and increasingly expensive resources, where local production is becoming the norm. It responds to our desire for smaller and more lightweight structures, using a common everyday material, paper.

'In From Here For Here' by <a title="Ariane Prin" href="http://www.arianeprin.com" target="_blank">Ariane Prin</a> proposes a production system that treats the Royal College of Art as an experimental site for using on-site waste as a raw material in local production; in this case pencils for students.

The 1.3 Chair by <a title="Ki-Hyun Kim" href="http://www.kihyunkimdesign.com" target="_blank">Ki-Hyun Kim</a> was inspired by the British wooden bomber aeroplane, the De Havilland DH 98 Mosquito, and is constructed from compressed balsa wood, lime wood and hardwood veneer. Balsa wood is a fast-growing, underused and sustainable source of wood.

Gaspard Tiné-Berèshas designed <a title="Lasso" href="lasso-shoes.com" target="_blank">Lasso</a>; slippers that are constructed from a single piece of natural wool felt, die-cut with minimal, simple and affordable tooling. The slippers are delivered flat-packed for assembly by the user who “sews” the seams with the standard laces supplied in a color of their choice.

<a title="Markus Kayser" href="http://www.markuskayser.com" target="_blank">Markus Kayser</a> has created Solar Sinter to explore the potential of desert manufacturing as response to questions about energy production and raw material shortages. Sunlight and sand are used as raw energy and material to produce glass objects using a high-tech 3D printing process.

Last but not least is the <a title="Sea Chair" href="http://www.studioswine.com" target="_blank">Sea Chair</a> by Alexander Groves, Azusa Murakami and Kieren Jones. The chair is made entirely from marine microplastic recovered from the ocean. It follows the discovery of The Pacific Garbage Patch and five more across the world’s oceans. With the help of the UK’s fishing community, the Sea Chair Project explores the possibility of a sea-harvested plastic industry.