Margaux Reynolds: Well.
Margaux Reynolds: I'm: a: oh, yeah, no, worries i'm a former alumni of Art Center. I was. I graduate in 2,019 and product design, so
Margaux Reynolds: that so
Margaux Reynolds: far from that, I guess 4 years. But I work at design works as a design strategist on their design, strategy, research, and foresight team.
Margaux Reynolds: Now let the soccer you and changes actually. No, I'll also mention the fact that I was in it turn at first, which could be exciting to some students that as a pathway into the organization, starting off as an intern in 2,018 when I was still in school, and then I continued on to a contract position, and then in 2,020
Margaux Reynolds: came on to the research strateg and strategy team.
Margaux Reynolds: where I've been ever since, having a great time and getting to learn about really interesting topics, and really thinking about the future.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: Good. Thank you, Margaret. My name is
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: I'm. Here a design works since 2019, but with Bmw. Since 2,009, so pretty long time. I spent my Ted first 10 years at Bmw. In Munich, and then I moved to design works
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: to support the the automotive team here, but also to work on new materials and to support some advanced topics.
So my background is text. I would design a I study in the Art School in Stuttgart, in south of Germany, and I joined the Mini team and was responsible for the textile development for Mini the last 10 years.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: and also did some projects
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: for new generation of materials for the brand Mini, and in general for Bmw: so excited to present the project with Margaret today.
Margaux Reynolds: Yeah, thanks for
Margaux Reynolds: such an interesting trajectory, and it's really cool to show both of our different
Margaux Reynolds: backgrounds. Coming into this, we thought a good place to start with, and coming into this project is just talking a little bit about the movie design works where a creative consultancy, owned by Bmw. Just celebrated our fifth anniversary, which is amazing. And when I say that we're creative consultancy.
Margaux Reynolds: we you know we work not only for Bmw. But third party, so generally for me, at least, the projects that I do are usually a 50% split across, not only Bmw. Projects, but also
Margaux Reynolds: lines that have to relate to all sorts of industries and different deliverables, not just mobility. So anything from aviation, our culture, retail luxury. You name it, and it's very interesting because
Margaux Reynolds: it provides us with this outside in perspective, that we can bring as an organization to our current company, Bmw. Group. And not only that, but we're based in 2 different countries. So here in La we've got our La studio. We also have a studio in Munich
Margaux Reynolds: and city in Shanghai. And so.
Margaux Reynolds: when we think about the topic of sustainability and secularity, it's something that's really important to Bmw. But what's interesting about us as a studio design works is that we can really bring an on the ground perspective for the different markets that we operate in when it comes to topics like sustainability. And so
Margaux Reynolds: visionary materials really came out of a research effort that was done across our studios. So La did a a market vision on what the future of, and current state of sustainability was a perspective on sustainability. Shanghai Munich did the same thing.
Margaux Reynolds: and what was so interesting about the project from the Us. Perspective is really thinking about this from this optimistic perspective that is really unique to the Us. Coming out of the tech sector, there's this, and you saw it in the previous slide. You'll see here again this idea of moonshot thinking
Margaux Reynolds: which is about taking a wicked problem and prop proposing a radical solution to that problem. So thinking about sustainability, thinking about circularity.
Margaux Reynolds: proposing a radical solutions to disruptive technology. And so we that thinking aims for not just a an incremental improvement, but really a 10 times impact.
Margaux Reynolds: And so thinking about
Margaux Reynolds: this idea of sustainability from this optimistic perspective, and that we can design for the future and improve the future through design. So designing to outperform the status quo through performance, through desirability, sustainability, it doesn't have to be that traditional notion of reduction.
Margaux Reynolds: but creating something that performs just as well is just as desirable, if not more than the traditional status quo materials. And so, coming out of this mindset of the Us. It really impressed Munich, and they were really interested in us, continuing on
Margaux Reynolds: with this mindset of sustainability in the Us. And so it prompted us to begin this search of scouting out
Margaux Reynolds: different players, different startups that we're working within the field of sustainability as a source of inspiration, Potential partnerships, collaborations and development streams for our Bmw. Brand.
Margaux Reynolds: And so that's really where this project was born out of it was really interesting to think about. And this more holistic idea of sustainability, and how that worked, carried forward into materiality.
Margaux Reynolds: So this is a material research project that then took off from all that sustainability research that we did fire.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: Yeah. And actually this project was also a learning journey for us, and we tried to keep this positive energy through the end, and even few challenges. We're on the way we we tried really to keep this energy, and to show that you know everything is about
the positive energy. You see some of the phases and the positive people we met on this journey, and actually we learned a lot from them from the small companies and the startups.
We learned to take the risk, and we in this case we were the design department because we talked not to designer. We talked directly to
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: to found that to activists, and we had to design our ideas with them with them, helping us. So we we we're also Hence on we we've. We thought we're. We need to to work like Co-creator.
We learned a lot from other industries and we're inspired and we started to believe in small companies, because we
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: also learned how important it is for a setup to have the support of big companies like ours, and everything begins with the work of of everyone from us. So
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: we also think we found the new generation of companies and suppliers, probably for Bmw. And we see
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: our company as connect to.
and you know, to be able to create innovation. We think that you need to have this passion, to develop, to connect, to work with different companies, and to connect them to create a new vision.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: Yeah, this was our mindset from the beginning, and like a manifesto for us, for all the different stages of the project.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: Yeah, here we are talking a little bit about how long this project was. Margo was just talking about the first part of the project, which was actually small
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: pre project, the actual project and the material development started in March in 2,021, and we actually had 6 months to create, to connect, to companies to create design ideas.
and we had 4 different phases. The first phase started with really talking to people to companies. We had 15 companies. We connected to first, and then we started to discuss and to go deeper to discussions. We
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: also.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: we are very flexible because of the very short timeframe. Some of the ideas we're pretty difficult to
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: really to to make, but we found new companies, new, 7 additional partners, where also part of this journey on the end
so. And
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: I think very interesting. Also, if we are talking and thinking about the process is
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: also to say that we we're also very interested to connect also internally as a big company you can imagine. We are not only the design, the partner who is working on innovation, but we have a lot more engineers, technical
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: departments, also people who will focus on testing materials. So we tried to connect to everyone we know could be interesting, interested to be part of this project, and
this helped us a lot to really bring new ideas closer to people who we need in the next steps to to develop materials and to engage them in a very early stage, just to be successful also on the end, and to be able to bring some of this ideas as soon as possible out to also to a serious production.
Margaux Reynolds: Yeah.
Margaux Reynolds: And so we look across 5 different topic areas within the field of sustainability. You'll see 2 here that are highlighted, and those are the ones that we really went deep into in terms of the seeding. The the the application concepts that we came up with for these materials.
Margaux Reynolds: the first thing called Infinite Loop, and the second grown innovation Infinite loop, is really looking at circularity and closing that loop, so that, as says here in really creating this infinite loop of not just working with version of materials, but exploring our waste streams, and how we can create the next life of a material
Margaux Reynolds: over and over again for an innovation. As I mentioned before
Margaux Reynolds: before the the recording, we are talking about Bio by design and and biological materials. And this is really where we get.
Margaux Reynolds: We get pretty deep into this working with organisms, thinking about nature, not just as something that we can control and take over. But really looking at nature as a collaborator, being able to work together as our organisms as partners to create new materials, really interesting.
Margaux Reynolds: Next structure is all about creating unexpected structures through new materials, new new technologies to create new new aesthetics
Margaux Reynolds: next color.
Margaux Reynolds: For those that are in the know about sustainability. Obviously dying and processing contributes a lot to environmental waste. And so thinking about what alternative pigments can be. Bacteria
Margaux Reynolds: working with organisms to really create new sources of color definitely something that we explored within this project. And then next Jim late, you can see here pictured a bioluminescence, but really thinking about this idea of aliveness and designing for liveness, using living organisms that exhibit bioluminescence.
Margaux Reynolds: And so, like I said, we really went deep into 2 topic areas. The culmination of this research was an application to 2 sitting concepts. On the left is our infinite loop, and on the right is grown innovation.
Margaux Reynolds: It was a way for us to take the material research that we
Margaux Reynolds: we're investigating and exploring, and realized that in a a threed form. So all all of these. All this research really culminated in in 2 sitting concepts, which is really exciting.
Margaux Reynolds: And the way that we're going to show this project is through these 2 topic areas, but also we think that these materials really have very compelling stories. So we're, we're telling these material stories as we present the types of companies that we
Margaux Reynolds: worked with, and the kinds of applications that we explored, the first being around material recovery. And you'll see this phrase here a couple of times. It's this idea of thinking about our waste stream and existing materials as the new gold mine.
Margaux Reynolds: and we really look to outside industry to be a source of inspiration For this.
Margaux Reynolds: We looked first to a company that is actually based just north of Los Angeles. It's a phone based company. They come out of the footwear industry, and they're taking a different approach to creating
Margaux Reynolds: kind of phone based insults for the we're industry, and they're cleaning up the process. So they're taking a recycled phone and creating a a new composite material that celebrates the these kind of the some of its parts that, taking the
Margaux Reynolds: the recycled foam, and creating a new composite material that has this really unique aesthetic. It doesn't look homogenized, it's. It's absolutely unique. And in the in the process it's creating a cleaner manufacturing method. It's preventing material from going into the landfill.
Margaux Reynolds: and it
Margaux Reynolds: is reducing greenhouse gases, and there's also no heat, no waste, water the mold that are being used to create these these insoles are actually printed. So a lot of innovation in the manufacturing process and the tooling
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: Yeah, what was interesting to, you know, in the work with this company was actually that we challenge them first time to work with us with an automotive context, and to use our own ways.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: So in this case we connected to some of our Pmw production plans and facilities to see where we creating some waste form was.
and we actually try to bring our own ways in this material matrix, and to create
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: something new which we can see as a possible material for with application in the unrest and in the seat.
And what is important here, from the design standpoint, is the idea of celebrating materials, we are not hiding materials. We are not covering them. But some of this materials could be shown in some areas. So we created in in the infinite loop seat, also
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: a back panel pocket, which is done by this materials, and we were able really to to bring a lot of recycling content from our own
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: waste means out covers and also phones here.
Margaux Reynolds: Yeah. And so continuing on the topic of material recovery when we think about collaborating, obviously local, is definitely contributes to sustainability and sustainable practices. And so, when we think about looking for collaborators.
Margaux Reynolds: we didn't have to go much further than our own backyard. And so one of the the partners that we worked with was actually a Los Angeles base skateboard manufacturer, that, similarly to the previous company, takes
Margaux Reynolds: takes materials, and that are headed for the landfill and actually reinterprets them. So in this case, 100% post production waste from the
Margaux Reynolds: airport industry that gets grinded up and created these beautiful art pieces that are actually skateboards. But they've got this truly unique aesthetic. And it's taking something that was meant for the landfill and actually creating something of value out of that.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: Yeah, in in this cooperation we tried again to connect the material and the story to a automotive context. And we use this technology for the back panel. We created a
hot phone
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: to to create the shape of our seat, and we use some of the interesting elements the company is using also in there
skateboards, code shred windows to create and again to celebrate materials, and to show that the core of this element on the seat is made by 100%
recycled post consumer and also post-production waste.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: And we we're able even to put some of our ways from the production of the tooling here and just to try to tell the story of using our own ways again.
Margaux Reynolds: Yeah, it's really interesting when I think about not only using waste from industry or in other industry, but even thinking about our own Bmw. Waste streams, as you know, gold mine for for creating new material.
Margaux Reynolds: And so, when you think about material recovery. We found the idea of recovery as a source of inspiration for us, and discovery in terms of what we could do with individual
Margaux Reynolds: layers. And so this is a company that we're studio. It's based in the Netherlands, and they work with brands and companies to think about their future with plastic. They take plastics that are again mentioned for landfills.
Margaux Reynolds: and reinterpret them into iconic materials, thinking about what that second life could be within the realm of plastics. And so this is really inspiring for us as we thought about how we could interpret materials for recovered.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: Yeah. On this page you see some of the experiments with it together, and it was really nice to talk to the experts who know a lot about plastic
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: and recycling. You see, on the left some examples of
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: what we we experimented with was led us. Shavings from coats led a cover covers actually to make the lead as a kind of powder, and mix this with people with interesting to see what
it's the outcome, and what kind of aesthetic we can create and to find new applications.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: But what was really interesting, and we really like the story of one material which is called Pvb. This is a kind of a poly vinyl material which has amazing properties, and it's used in the automotive industry since years
because of the flexibility, transparency, and a strong binder. This material is use in the automotive wind shoes
And actually, the problem with this material in the past years was that to be able to recycle automotive when she you needed to extract the Pvd.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: Since few years this process is possible, and we can really recycle our wind shoes. But what is interesting is that through the process of recycling you're creating again a ways with you which has amazing properties.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: but we don't know where to use it. So this is
again a really good chance to understand and to learn about new materials which are coming now from the recycling process, and how to put them in the next loop is what
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: we are really curious about to find the application for recovered materials.
Margaux Reynolds: Yeah.
Margaux Reynolds: And so take it a step further into recovery. This is the last material story within infinitely but thinking itself about
Margaux Reynolds: composite materials, and this idea of individual layers, and recovering those individual layers
Margaux Reynolds: up into this point, it's been impossible to actually separate some of those parts; and even if a material can be recycled, it often has to head to the land, but because it can't be recovered. And so there's a technology being developed in California. This advanced resin
Margaux Reynolds: that allows cost linking to be reversed, and so you can literally take apart all the individual layers and do with them what you what you want to do, whether it's for cycling or reuse.
Margaux Reynolds: But really being able to have that choice which is really compelling to us, and what's interesting about the companies that they're coming from a different angle within the energy sector. You know we're thinking about alternative energy, obviously from automotive.
Margaux Reynolds: a sources of power. But looking to the to wind. Here this company is looking to create a more sustainable solution
Margaux Reynolds: for power generation, by being able to recycle the rotor blades which are currently non cyclical. So it's interesting for us as a source of inspiration to be working with a company that's looking to scale to that to that level.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: Yeah. And with this cooperation we actually tried to provoke internally also, and to
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: great question that the thinking that to be sustainable you have to create more materials, to be able to recycle and to bring to them to the next step.
But with this example we are showing that there are also ways to create composite materials which you can recycle and reuse and reuse again.
And if we go back, Margo again to the first page, you see here. What we did actually is, we created a lot of different samples which are giving us, you know, a lot of design, freedom to layer materials and to create some unusual aesthetics.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: This is possible only if you're using a composite material. And in this case we we did a test because we wanted to show that this is real, and you really can recover this. All layers. So one of our samples was recovered, and you see, on the bottom the small image is showing all this layers, and in the previous
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: shape they had. And it's really amazing that you even can
use the
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: this also called first recyclable at poxy resin as a material for injection, moding after the end of life. And after this process, which was amazing to see and also to discover.
Margaux Reynolds: Yeah, it's a a great note to end this particular section. Now we're going to turn it over to grown innovation. Still topic of scale, and growing in a in a different sense. There's a plan words here growing and scaling. Obviously, we're talking about living organisms and working with living organisms
Margaux Reynolds: as collaborators, but also working with startups as an opportunity to grow and scale them to help give them opportunity, because we're working from the position of a large company, and being able to be a platform, or this kind of work also growing and scaling in terms of
Margaux Reynolds: growing a material to for the automotive industry and thinking about what levels of refinement are needed in order to scale something completely new for our industry.
Margaux Reynolds: It's really interesting here, in terms of that material story.
Margaux Reynolds: The first company that we're going to present is a companies based in New York, and they're working with bacterial silos which i'm sure, knowing this class, some of you might be familiar with but for those that aren't. It's a bacterial based
Margaux Reynolds: that's created by the the same sort of bacteria that you can drink in Cambodia. And what's great about this material is that it's a it's a wonderful alternative to animal weather. Traditionally animal, other, and even synthetic animal leather. Really it
Margaux Reynolds: that the cattle requires years to raise. It takes months, and if not, you know, yeah, weeks to month to process, to tan, and then a decades to decompose, or in a synthetic situation hundreds of years. And so in this case you can grow something. It's completely regenerative.
Margaux Reynolds: Give me grown in 7 days process within a week, and it just, you know, takes a fraction of the time to biodegrade. So for us, this kind of material is just super promising and so interesting for us as a philosophy.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: Yeah, what was interesting about this company? And our cooperation was also the way we found each other the first time in my career. It's automotive company. I was
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: able to to think about different platforms, to find new supplier and new players.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: A and one of the unusual ways is to actually find a someone to collaborate through Instagram for us as a big companies almost the first time we did it, and it was amazing to see the results, and how quick we can
be in, you know, working with startups who are able to deliver materials and few weeks. So what we did in this case we use some of the pieces which we created together to
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: yeah, to put them in the context in the seat, and to show this in combination with
other materials like the recycled fabrics. In this case the challenge is not only scaling of this new grown innovations, and to make them working in a bigger production machines, but it's also about
scaling and developing the aesthetic, which is unusual, you know, thinking about like the alternative you have to bring something which is
close to what we used to know. And if you think about this, all pieces are different, and they look different, not only in colors, but also on thickness. We were excited to explore this, and had the chance to to put even a an additional layer to experiment with this with you.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: But it's some test with laser cutting to see how we can bring all this different pieces together, and to use them as a concept for the sit and as a design topic here.
Margaux Reynolds: Yeah. And and just to add on to what the Salco is saying about Instagram and sourcing, it must be so exciting to hear us talk, you know, from the perspective of a company like Bmw. Obviously very exciting for for this company, because there are a
Margaux Reynolds: pretty much, you know.
Margaux Reynolds: I think they're in their twenties. They're they're a young startup, and they have an opportunity to to work, and and they, you know we take them very seriously. And this is something we found on Instagram. So you know innovation and new ideas. We're always looking, and we're looking on different platforms
Margaux Reynolds: to source that kind of innovation. So it was a really cool opportunity for everyone involved.
Margaux Reynolds: So this next material story we're calling augmented nature, and this is about looking to biomimicry as a source of inspiration, also working with the black biological material material. In this case we're working with him
Margaux Reynolds: the materials called hemp. One.
Margaux Reynolds: What's interesting about it. It's a a super regen regenerative material in its own right, but utilizing properties and philosophy as a biomimicry, it's a wood composite. Native. Hem with that is also using a a protein soy based
Margaux Reynolds: kind of a way of
Margaux Reynolds: eliminating the layers. It produces a a woodstep substitute that is actually a 100 times faster to grow in 20% stronger than hardwood, which is really interesting for us as an alternative to to wood, which it's obviously much more sustainable
Margaux Reynolds: as a source, he goes very fast, and even the company that is producing this engineered wood is following a sustainable philosophy through the use of hem for the use of hydro power, and also sourcing everything within just a a couple of miles from his headquarters, which is really interesting for us, and very compelling as a story.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: Yeah, we were inspired by this, but
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: I think the aesthetic and also the story of regenerative materials, and how to put them in again in an automotive context how to bring them together with auto materials. The next topic is also showing another very
unusual way to think about materials, and it was interesting just to to show the contrast, and bring
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: some, probably a little out good materials with some new materials, and to show the the bridge, the combination and the contrast between both.
Margaux Reynolds: Yeah.
Margaux Reynolds: So we're kind of leaving the realm of biologic materials. But looking to nature as a source of inspiration through manmade technology. And so the the example that'll show here is looking at added manufacturing, which we also known as 3D printing
Margaux Reynolds: as a way of
Margaux Reynolds: not only growing material. If you think about the layers that get added, but also as a a sustainable alternative to more traditional means of milling, of drilling which can produce a lot of waste here. You're using kind of a more focused production, creating geometry that
Margaux Reynolds: wouldn't necessarily be created be possible to be created through these more traditional means. And so there is a sustainability angle, and they think about kind of the bespoke manufacturing compared with more traditional subtractive technologies that we all learn to and in design school.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: and we see a lot of possibilities using this new technologies for us as designer to bring more color to rethink even functions of material. We're talking here about the poly jet
printing technology which which was introduced last year in Milan. In the Design Fair, we had the chance to work even before the official introduction of this technology.
And we we actually brought some questions, and we we think we can even rethink and
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: think further than what we know today. We had a very interesting question here. Can we actually use this technology to create a new phone for the seats which is not
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: behind the fabric. And can we change the properties of the materials we are
having today in a automotive? It could, for example. And what if the Textile is becoming this the base for growing something which is hidden today, and to have the phone having new function and qualities. So this was the experiment we did here to show this
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: on a fabric printed for a possible cover solution.
Margaux Reynolds: It was like, I don't know if you want to talk through this slide.
Margaux Reynolds: But these were kind of the different samples and
Margaux Reynolds: materials that we went
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: went along our journey with us.
Margaux Reynolds: and so the the last thing we'll say is, You know, this project.
Margaux Reynolds: when you think about it, is still ongoing in a way, because we're still looking for new new innovation, new opportunities, new players, new partners. Our eyes are, and ears are always
Margaux Reynolds: open up for ways that we can innovate on materiality and circularity, and even some of the things that we have explored aren't, even in the stack, like we were looking at Mycelium; and, as I mentioned before, we looked at alternatives to pigments, and working with algae as a source of pigments. And so there's a lot of exploration that we are
Margaux Reynolds: doing and continue to do. And so it's. It's a really exciting project for us to be involved with.
Margaux Reynolds: So thank you, guys. I guess we can open it up to some discussion.
Marshall Hamachi: That's terrific. Thank you so much for sharing that amazing content. What i'd like to do is address the questions that were posted in the chat since the beginning. So if I just go to that first.
Marshall Hamachi: Some of these are surrounding the names of the companies, so i'll just ask straight up before we get into specifics. Are you allowed to disclose those names, because if not, then I will just move on from those questions.
Marshall Hamachi: Is that something that can be dis disclosed? Or no?
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: I think we we are not allowed to talk to some of the names in the moment. But yeah, probably we can share this in a latest stage. That sounds good. I'll go ahead and and pass those questions. Then
let's see here
Marshall Hamachi: there's a question from hydrin. There's a number of questions with the first one is the composite reversal for recycling is interesting. Are there any proof of concept case studies? So I I assume you're referring to the epoxy, reversible epoxy of of of cross-linking?
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: Yes.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: I think probably I can take this question. You know the company and Margo was mentioning that this
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: this technology was invented here in California, and now they're scaling the product, as we showed also for the winds
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: place and for the wind industry. And I think that in a pretty good shape to to to be. I I think they even communicated already some project with Siemens. So the technology is available. It's count, I think.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: now is just to find different ways to implement this to different products.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: But it's something we also saw in different. Actually, through our research. We found it a company who work with this resin 10 years ago to show just first proof of concept, and we know that this is scout now, and is available
probably not for everyone in the moment, but at least for big companies to work with.
Heidrun Mumper-Drumm: Yeah, thank you. Sorry I I had to come in late, so I missed the earlier part of your presentation. But hopefully, you'll have a recording the this.
Heidrun Mumper-Drumm: this ability to to use recycled materials
Heidrun Mumper-Drumm: and and upcycle them.
Heidrun Mumper-Drumm: for it has always depended on kind of being able to combine recycled materials together, because there were very few recycled materials that by themselves could
Heidrun Mumper-Drumm: be fully functional; and if they really, if there really is a a means of doing that, laminating or commingling different materials and recovering them again. That's like the Holy Grail, right?
Heidrun Mumper-Drumm: So if you if you have any studies or something that you can share it' be wonderful, because right now, what we're telling students is
Heidrun Mumper-Drumm: you basically have to use recycled materials by themselves, and that it's hard to to create a new quality, You know performance material out of that. So that really struck me. So.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: I'd love to know more.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: I think in this specific case we can share some information, I guess, Margo, I think I would say. We probably can send some links. Even. We can connect to the people we talked because I think in this case could be interesting for you. Yeah.
Margaux Reynolds: yeah, i'm still concerned. I mean, she fit like it's one thing to have a company tell you. It works. But to have
Margaux Reynolds: it actually happened. And in Vasila, being able to take mycelium and something else, and put it together and put it through a process and take the materials apart
Margaux Reynolds: for us. We got to show people what those individual layers look like at our event in our studios.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: It's a great, you know, way to showcase that technology. Yeah, it was also interesting for us to think that you even can combine the ground innovation materials with recycled infinite look materials because of the fact that you really can separate them after
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: words. And this was even for us like
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: a super idea to, you know, even to combine different aspects and different materials coming and being
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: from different backgrounds, and then to have the chance to separate them. Yeah, we we told this also, amazing
Marshall Hamachi: just to address the issue about sharing any content that you wish to share. Marco and Missalka, please direct to me, and then I will
Marshall Hamachi: post that along with the recording of the video for the entire college. So yeah, I will make sure that we are fine. I will connect to the company and ask first before we are sharing something. But I I think it's not a problem. Oh, and they will be interested.
Marshall Hamachi: That's great. Okay, is it? Okay, if I move on hydrogen?
sam kapor: Okay, piggyback on that specific question, yeah, is that okay? So I cause that that quite interest me is welcoming from like the it may be a bit more of an engineering side, and in material development
sam kapor: we often find that we're trying to take a renewable source to replace something existing. So whether it's like replacing
sam kapor: would that causes deforesting, or like my ceiling, mother is a great example right? We're trying to come up with a new leather source that we can grow
sam kapor: well. What we often find is when we look at the mechanical properties or the application properties to create the same experience that exist with the synthetic option or the non preferred. From the environmental standpoint.
sam kapor: we have to take this renewable option, and then still apply this Co. Team, or some sort of not sustainable process which ultimately brings us back to square one, and instead, sorry. So that's where we're kind of
sam kapor: fighting right now, as opposed to taking a look at it from the design standpoint, and thinking, how do we design a product that leverages and lasts as long as the sustainable solution is meant to and teach users to interact with it.
sam kapor: So I said, it becomes part of the virtual experience to live with it as long as it's intended, and that component can then be interchanged, or or swap, or designed out
sam kapor: at its normal end of life, instead of recycling again into a non decomposable options, or only composable for select few people that have access to the things, or or applying it pieces that don't degrade and getting away from that cycle.
sam kapor: Is that some part of this use case that you guys are also looking to.
Margaux Reynolds: Are you talking about like training the consumer to
sam kapor: the consumer and and take yeah, take training the consumer and taking a look at the design approach as to not trying to recreate exactly what exists, but create a new experience that allows material to degrade on our own, naturally, and not trying to apply
sam kapor: other synthetics to regain these material properties that
sam kapor: you know all some result, and using synthetics that are not great for the environment.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: I think I know exactly what you're talking about, and I. We we we have the same challenges also, you know, with trying to put as much as possible recycled content in our fabrics, for example, or other materials. We always need to add some
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: petroleum, base or new materials. This is what the first part of your question. and I think one way to think about materials, and to change something in the system is really to think about the longevity. And this is it was the second part of your question, I guess. And yeah, this 2 big topics. And we, as
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: you know, everyone, I think, is still working on this. What makes sense and what is the most sustainable
design, application, and what makes sense? And I guess in the moment everyone is just working on different options and figuring out what is right and what is wrong, and where we are putting even more energy to recycle something and what makes sense.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: and probably it will, takes years to really understand the complexity of this processes, and
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: I think one way for automotive to think about.
This is probably also to
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: really re think the test we are doing, and if a material needs to be like a new. You know all the materials we know now, or if there are some other ways to to test materials and to, and still to perform. And I think this
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: this is something we we are working also every day with engineers on our side, and it's it's the challenging part of the whole, I think sustainability, story and processes.
Margaux Reynolds: I think it's also like talking about industry like we had talked about taking material and refining it for automotive. It's all about.
Margaux Reynolds: There's a like this is like a timeline here where we're thinking about
Margaux Reynolds: changing minds. I think, as we first it's a matter, taking something to fit the mold of like what people are used to in order to get adoption, and then kind of start to reframe what that option should be and could be, and and at the same time also introduce more
Margaux Reynolds: the sustainable processes to the materials that we're introducing into or our products.
Marshall Hamachi: Thank you.
DW-Johannes: Yeah. Hi. You harness from this. And I think Sam is also alluding to an aspect that I think most interesting with this project where
DW-Johannes: we are not trying to replace something existing
DW-Johannes: with something that looks the same.
DW-Johannes: But we're trying to introduce new aesthetics and new
DW-Johannes: new tactile experiences as the acceptable and desired solutions.
DW-Johannes: so that it changes the conversation. Are you changing or supplementing something to maybe something that doesn't perform as well
DW-Johannes: as well as trying to look at more introducing these materials into the into the thinking before we design this
DW-Johannes: a products. If before we even even think what is the the durability criteria or the the experience criteria.
DW-Johannes: so that we we start more from again a blind canvas, if you will.
DW-Johannes: So I think, when when we are always
DW-Johannes: just replacing something. It's always a conversation. Is it better? Does it perform better, or and does it cost more or less.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: and we try to change that conversation.
sam kapor: Thank you.
Margaux Reynolds: I think mostly you are muted.
Marshall Hamachi: Eric. I see your hand up there. Is it? Okay? If I move on and then come back to your question, or is it about this particular topic?
Marshall Hamachi: And you can move on? That's fine.
Marshall Hamachi: all right. So the next question from Alling was, I think, in regard to the Pvb. Is this a separatable resin for use of glue for automotive or finishes? And what is the use of this in a car? I think you touch on that a little bit, but I think it's probably clarification.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: I think it's pretty early to say where we can use this material in the moment it's, as I try to explain, is just a by product from the recycling process, and we are still learning to understand. If this material could be used in automotive and can be reused again and again.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: This was yeah, what I mentioned in the description of the Pv. But it's exciting
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: to think about the process and to see how this material can take a new role and can bring to a second life.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: Yeah, that totally makes sense. Yeah, Thank you for clarification. Yeah, sure.
Marshall Hamachi: The next question from Christine was with regard to the Kambucha, like material or Cambodia based material, and she would like to learn more about how the scope of material. How is it Pliable.
Marshall Hamachi: I think, is that
Kristine Upesleja: Yeah, because I I've been working for a long time with Scobe, and and I never heard that it's already pliable. So
Kristine Upesleja: yeah. that
Kristine Upesleja: would like to know more about it. Thank you.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: Yeah. In this case we had first contact with this material, and what we did for the seats was actually exactly we wanted to understand. Can we use this material is
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: is also something we can see in in in a cover in a seat, and we we are very excited to see the new properties, and we we worked really
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: close with this material. We we had trials and swing trials, and it was really good to work with.
So it's. I would say, yeah, it's a pliable, and we
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: we think that it's has a future, and there some different companies who are working already on scaling this product so very curious where everything will go.
Kristine Upesleja: How do may I ask, how did you manage the smell?
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: How to smell? This is a good point. Actually, this was also the first question from our technical department to, and there are different ways to work around this now. And actually
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: the materials we had on the end was pretty good, and it's still working it's nothing
which is unusual.
Ahyoung Roh (she/her): Oh, cool. Thank you. That's actually really great, because Kristen and I did really a lot of work for growing scope at home. Yeah. And if we were really special about the snow. So that's why she was mentioning about it. I think, Margaret, you have also some experience in my bathroom right now. So yeah, it has a very unique bench.
Marshall Hamachi: Okay, Moving on to hydrant's next question regarding the hem material, Are you saying that this mimics would? And could you please clarify that?
Margaux Reynolds: I feel like if you had some on hand it like it?
Margaux Reynolds: It really does it's it's like a laminated wood material, and and so I guess it's sort of like plywood in terms of of the materiality of it in in kind of mimicking that idea of
Margaux Reynolds: of what but the bonding price process of it's a a soy based protein that's bonding the hemp layers. and I don't know if it's like. If you had it.
Margaux Reynolds: That's what it's grabbing it. But I feel like looking at it. I I think it.
Margaux Reynolds: It behaves like would in treating it, because certainly you guys were milling it.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: Yeah, it's a pretty hot wood, and it's yeah, actually
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: pretty difficult to to get in shape. What is interesting is if this material could be
produce in form of veneer the companies working on on different solutions for the flooring industry, and because of the properties that is even
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: way harder than what is interesting, you know, to see where it it makes sense to work with this material. but it's not really mimicking good, but has similar properties. Similar work. Look. And yeah.
Heidrun Mumper-Drumm: yeah, thank you for clarifying that when I hear biomimicry, my little green radar goes up, because so so often we use we use that word. So really what you're they're adapting
Heidrun Mumper-Drumm: the plywood kind of technology by using him. And you're getting this a new material that has similar and maybe even better
Heidrun Mumper-Drumm: properties, then then apply would like material. But it's not biomimicry per se. The way
Heidrun Mumper-Drumm: biomimetics is actually used.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: Yeah, it's. It was more like the inspiration for us, and we were more inspired by the fact that this company is very regenerative, and every
I think they're doing from the growing the material they involved in all the steps, and they build their own facility, using regenerative energy. So the idea of having a fully regenerative product which
is even helping farmers to grow and to. you know, to
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: to have
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: new soil and all this different levels of development. Pink material was interesting in this case for us.
I think that's why the biomimicry from the process kind of thinking
DW-Johannes: it. It really mimics chip ports as a as a material, and
DW-Johannes: they are, you know, because of the residents use to bond those chips. They are very bad for environment, and the
DW-Johannes: hem Food Creator actually comes from the bamboo flooring industry, and although the the fiber is
DW-Johannes: fast growing and and can be considered sustainable. A lot of the rings were not so. He decided to try to create a more
DW-Johannes: holistically sustainable product with the with the hemput, but also with the hemput application, where, again. trying to use it in a way to introduce an aesthetic that you do not need to cover
DW-Johannes: are always the core, and then they are covered with the lamb in it, and become some multi material composites that are difficult to recycle.
DW-Johannes: So this is again an idea of introducing another aesthetic through sustainable development.
Ahyoung Roh (she/her): Oh, my gosh! You're muted
Marshall Hamachi: cue! For some reason it's popping. Though there we go.
Marshall Hamachi: just before we get to your requested question, Sam. I actually want to address Diderick's question.
Marshall Hamachi: and that has to do with.
Marshall Hamachi: He's curious. Appreciate that you work with startups and get inspiration and knowledge from them. Despite your being a pretty large company with lots of resources. He's curious, however, how you find those startups, or how those startups find you? And is it by chance? Or are you actively networking in that them domain? And if so, how?
Margaux Reynolds: Yeah, it's a great question.
Margaux Reynolds: Yeah, we we are definitely, always actively
Margaux Reynolds: looking for what's new. And next, just based on on
Margaux Reynolds: who we are and what we do. I certainly
Margaux Reynolds: gone out of my way to go to conferences. Last year I went to a bio fabricate conference in New York so definitely looking to see Who that what is being done for the future in terms of sustainability? Who are the next players? Even if they're small, what are they doing?
Margaux Reynolds: There's always, I I at least walked out of that conference, being completely amazed with what's being done with materials that I had. I didn't even know what possible. So and then, just like I also mentioned the Using Instagram as a platform, which is, you know, you don't have to pay for a a ticket to
Margaux Reynolds: a conference is a very accessible way of of being in
Margaux Reynolds: visible to to companies like us and to people like us. So there's a lot of ways that we're always scouting.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: Yeah, what was interesting for me in this case was also the connection we had with this internal startup garage. We wanted also to make sure that we are founding new Us based company as, and and
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: it was interesting to see if they are already on the list or not. And
I think this is also important to help finding new
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: companies interesting. You know variety of materials, but also the connection. And I think this is what we from design are able to do is to connect ideas.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: This was one of the principle we use also in this cooperation, because we saw that sometimes one companies, and especially if you're very small. And on the beginning of your carrier you're not able to.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: probably to produce them the amount we just needed for testing or whatever, and to connect companies and help each other to create
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: the wish. Aesthetic is something we definitely can do and support in.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: Yeah.
DW-Johannes: yeah, I think that's the important point that often one single company wasn't enough for what we tried to achieve, and you needed a couple to work together, and also in some instances one company introduced us to other companies.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: So it really is a a a network. Yeah.
Margaux Reynolds: yeah.
Marshall Hamachi: yeah, that makes sense.
Marshall Hamachi: So just being mindful of your time. We there's 2 more questions, but we're at 1 59. So I have a couple of choices. Either we can I can get those questions from the students and email them to you for responses which I can distribute later.
Marshall Hamachi: Or if you have time, we can address them. What is your preference?
Margaux Reynolds: We can do the 2 questions quick. Okay.
sam kapor: So, Sam, you want to go ahead and ask the question You are saving for the end.
Marshall Hamachi: So Kelly's question is, do you have some examples where sustainability adds value directly to the end, user for example, benefits other than being better, just because it is a more sustainable option.
Margaux Reynolds: It's such a great question. I think this was kind of what for us? We found such an interesting angle for sustainability in the Us. Is that it wasn't enough that it was a sustainable option. It actually had to outperform the status quo it has to be, you know, either.
Margaux Reynolds: If it's like my sleeve leather. It has to be just as luxurious as touching a piece of weather, or better outperforming. It's funny the first thing that comes to mind because I saw your question as like, how would I answer this? Because it is such an important aspect of the future, I think, when we were first talking about this as a team.
Margaux Reynolds: The first topic was food, and, like the impossible meat, Impossible, Burger, it has the same taste. It's better for you. It's better for the environment. So you're not having to sacrifice
Margaux Reynolds: on, you know, For some people they might not think it's. The best is the same or better. But it's definitely trying to give you the sense of satisfaction, while also doing something that's better for your body, individually as well as for the environment.
Margaux Reynolds: And then there the next
Margaux Reynolds: for actual materials, I would say, working with algae and any kind of photos, synthetic material like MOS like Algae being able to have that kind of health and wellness aspect, and bringing that into an environment. Certainly there's some
Margaux Reynolds: materials like bioluminescent Lg. Or plankton. They're called dynamics. They not only give off light, but they also photosynthesize. So you're getting a lot of different properties with one organism. I think that's kind of an interesting through line. I think we'll see more of that
Margaux Reynolds: added performance as these materials develop. But it's definitely something within like tech innovation and the Us. Market of sustainability. I think
Margaux Reynolds: not.
Margaux Reynolds: It's not enough to just be good for the environment. We need that extra, you know, whatever that is. But I think we're just starting to see some
Margaux Reynolds: some of that here.
Cali: Thank you. Yeah, it's a great question.
Margaux Reynolds: I think, Marshall, you're muted.
Marshall Hamachi: I keep doing it there we go
Marshall Hamachi: in light of Sam having his question asked already: is there one last question that anyone wants to ask before we let our guests go?
Marshall Hamachi: Daniel.
Berman Daniel: Yeah, this might be a slightly more related to how you might distribute a new material once you spent all this time developing, you know, I'd imagine the supply chain logistics and getting something out to the mass market is insane, and there's lots of legacy suppliers. So how does that conversation start where you know You've been developing a new material for years and years.
Berman Daniel: and you're finally ready to get it out into the mass market. What's that? Conversation like with suppliers? And you know the wider industry
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: I think we mentioned earlier that we are trying to work, you know. So this and the P. And very close to everyone else in the company who is involved in the whole process, and
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: we are talking in a very early stage with the purchasing department, who could be a possible company for scaling a product. So this conversation is starting pretty early
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: in the process, and in this specific case we really want it to work like this, because we are pretty sure that
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: if you are developing a product alone in the design department behind the doors, it will take also time to really bring this to the
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: out of existing part partners in the company. And not only this, but we are learning also from all the engineers and the experience they have what we need to address in a very early stage, and you know how to figuring out specific
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: topics and questions, and very early conversations. I don't know if this is answering where we are. Question. But this is
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: what I think.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: Thank you.
Marshall Hamachi: Great. Okay?
Marshall Hamachi: Well, I think we're going to go ahead and wrap up. Now, I want to extend a huge Thank you to Margo, to Vasalka, and to you honest for making all this possible and sharing design works, valuable time and and expertise and knowledge.
Marshall Hamachi: We so appreciate it, and we hope that this is just the beginning of a continued conversation around bio materials and and and looking forward to how Art Center can contribute to that. Certainly. So thank you so much. We really appreciate your time.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: Yeah, Thank you for your time, too. Thank you.
Marshall Hamachi: Very welcome, and as a reminder to all the rest of the art Center participants. We have recorded this presentation. When it's processed it will be posted, and the link will be sent out as well as any other. Follow up material that comes from design works. Okay, so look forward to that.
Marshall Hamachi: Okay, Thank you. Everyone for participating. Have a great weekend.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: Thank you. You, too. Thanks.
Carolina Uscategui: Thank you, bye.
Wesselka Mandowa BMW DW: bye, bye.
Cheryl Pelly: Thank you.
Babette Strousse: Thanks, Marshall.
Marshall Hamachi: Welcome by that. And thank you, Miss Alka. Amazing. I wish I could. Yeah, Thank you for that. Yeah. Was so amazing. Today. There was almost. There was just so much information, of course, for me that i'm not really on top of all of this, but it was it.