Due to covid-19 the student trainingweek in Valencia – for the project Craft Your Future – has become a two day online Makeathon. With the student teams in their own countries, but linked by screens.
The societal challenge they are working on is heat stress. Heat stress is the result of stone paved and walled cities with hardly any green to cool it down during the hot days. It is becoming more serious now summers are getting hotter due to the climate change.
Beautiful mix
The particpating students come from Spain, Bulgaria and the Netherlands. With ten different nationalities from seven different schools it is a beautiful mix of young people. During the two days the teams work on their challenge in their own school workshops. In between there are inspiring speakers, which were organised by the Spanish team and at the end of the second day each team presents their prototype design with the starting point (concept) and the process.
CYF-cards
We approach this challenge using the tools that we developed during the Craft your Future project. The teams use the CYF-cards that will define the working ingredients. There are four cards to choose from: craft, technology & trend, circular and a wild card.
Dutch teams
There are two Dutch teams. The first team works with the cards: knitting, 3D printing, recycled materials, without a budget. The second team works with the combination: basket weaving, ageing population, refuse, individuals.
The students use waste materials from the workshop and Fablab in the Blokhuispoort, creating an object to use in the streets of Leeuwarden varying from knitted sun shades with flowering climbing plants, hanging umbrella’s, rainwater collectors archades under wich people of all ages can meet.
Bulgarian and Spanish teams
The Bulgarian teams create a 3D printed relaxing chairs with flower sun screens and a green iglo like meeting point. The five Spanish teams develop a wide range of circular design solutions for people who have lost their homes due to nature disasters. They use recycled plastic waste from beaches to hold beach umbrallas and more.
New insights
For all students the CYF-approach is new and it gives them new insights to use in their design steps. Feedback from the students: ‘Combining a craft technology and to work with waste material to make something with a societal purpose is very inspiring and will be taken along in further devolopment.’ – ‘Never thought that craft could provide such an inspiring addition to the design process.’
Paella
So no paella for the team in the Netherlands and Bulgaria, but lots of fun, inspiration and great new ideas to be continued!
Below your will find photo’s from the two days in Leeuwarden, by MARC DE FOTOGRAAF.
