A sustainable business model to empower consumers and reduce waste, competing for the yooweedoo change maker award
Ever since John Naisbitt published his research about the so-called megatrends in 1982, we cannot deny the all-encompassing developments such as globalisation, urbanisation and technical progress. These changes have led to the need for a sustainable approach in the face of the natural imbalance caused by human beings. However, markets hardly ever respond to this urgent need and foster instead increasing consumption.
The team of ArtCycle focuses on the challenge of how to make people aware of this unsustainable behaviour and how to find ways to change it towards a self-responsible consciousness.
As a team of four Climate-KIC students, we are starting ArtCycle as an on- and offline platform enabling users to upcycle their old beloved items together with the help of artists to new design or art objects. Using the current trend towards a soft-individualistic society with a desire for creativity and unique characteristics, we want to increase people’s awareness for the manifold value of “waste”. Starting in Berlin, we aim to build upon the existing alternative community by offering upcycling workshops with local partners and strive towards a combined, synergetic community on our online platform artcycle.de (coming soon).
In the future, we aspire to spread the concept to other European cities such as London, Amsterdam and Paris, where we plan to build up “Squatted Places” such as the Unperfekt Haus in Essen or the artistic shipyard area in North of Amsterdam. Here, we want to bring together users, artists and creative folks of all kinds to learn from each other how to upcycle items. We will create the framework for this by providing the space to store waste materials, by handing these over to artists and by supporting them in creating new items together with consumers who thus become prosumers.
ArtCycle hence offers two services: Support of the offline community with workshops and a creative space as well as an online matching service for artists and customers.
In the long-run, we aim to provide a real alternative for the common mass production of fashion items such as furniture, clothes, decoration and art pieces. We are aware that we are unable to stop all the conventional production mechanisms, but we can show consumers the impact of their behaviour: By creating their own values they have the power to change the production line into a closed cycle. This way, we intend to decrease the waste production of our Berlin-based users who until now produce four pounds of it every day. The amount of saved CO and H2O will be calculated in ArtCycle points and shown online to the community.
ArtCycle will increase awareness for our ecological responsibility towards resources, but also towards economical driven production conditions in low- and middle-income countries and the global impact of our local behaviour.
If you like our idea please vote for us: From the 14.02.-3.3.2014 we have the chance to win the yooweedoo-change-maker award!!
Thanks for you help!!
If you have any suggestions or questions please write us via our facebook page. We are happy to answer!
