Every year, more timber grow than what is harvested in Norwegian woods, and birch is the most under-utilized wood species in this country. Learning this served as my starting point of research.
In the material-driven design process, the typical approach to product design is reversed by starting with a material and designing product applications from that. Based on this, I have explored birch wood through a «7 weeks, 7 product concepts» approach. The output of this was then used for one concluding concept - in the form of a chair.
Throughout the project I have debated how to justify designing more products in a «full» world. In a system determined to make everything disposable, we need to design objects that have value beyond economics, are made to last, and through that, are sustainable. In my master thesis I have explored this, and believe responsibly harvested and locally sourced wood can be part of the solution.
This Diploma project was done January to May 2023 at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design, and the report from the project can be found in digital form by clicking on the picture below:
The physical exhibition at AHO (Oslo School of Architecture and Design) spring -23 was an important part of this work, and some pictures from this can be seen below.
