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Published on January 23, 2008

Are those involved in industrial design doing enough to prevent global warming? Apparently not, according to the winner and three runners-up of the recent "eco-friendly" design contest organised by Living etc magazine. But designers Wiriya Wattanayon, Saran Youkongdee, Suwaroj Phusriwongwanich and Niti Nimala are full of "green" ideas and are set on promoting a cleaner future.

The winner, 27-year-old Wiriya says his "Watch wood you like?" set is very versatile and eco-friendly. He used a 1.20 x 2.40 metres MBF wood board to produce his four pieces of furniture - a chair, two boxes and a bookshelf. Ideal for a small urban apartment, the set can be folded down into just one piece and, with a shady tree etched on the side, looks great against a wall.

"I don't think that environmental problems can be resolved by any one person; we need to work together. As an industrial designer, I know how important it is for us to source material that's eco-friendly and to consume as little less energy as possible throughout the entire production process. We also have to place great emphasis on design so there's no residue and all our products should be multi-functional. No waste, that's my strategy," says Wiriya, who currently works for Cotto Tile, Thai Ceramics.

Twenty-four-year-old Saran set up his studio, "Studio Ek", after graduating two years ago and tries to always use local materials in his designs. "Every community has its own identity and culture," he notes.

His "Malee" curtain screen is made from the banana tree and follows the same process as that used for producing saa (mulberry) paper, only it is stronger.

"I love blending art and function. I was searching for a new natural material since many designers have used water hyacinth already. That's why I turned to the banana tree. It's a real gift from nature as we can make use of the whole tree. Best of all, if my design gets broken or wears out, it simply decomposes and is totally harmless to the environment."

Suwaroj, 19, a student at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Lat Krabang, looked to the culprits of pollution for his design, mixing fly ash with cement to create a public bench for just Bt150. While he acknowledges it isn't a completely new idea, he points out that engineers have previously used a much larger ratio of cement to fly ash, which, he says, pushes up the costs.

"My bench uses 80 per cent of fly ash [40 kilograms] mixed with 20 per cent of cement. I made a request for fly ash from Mae Moh Power Station in Lampang. The bench is quite cheap and should last for ages. The ash is essentially coal so when it eventually degrades, it will go back to nature. I'm glad to be able to transform waste that hurts the environment into something useful," he says.

Third runner-up Niti, 22, is a student at Udon Thani Rajabhat University and made his fun "Bubble seat" furniture from the inner tubes of used tyres and scraps of fabric discarded by garment factories.

"Think about the number of cars on our roads and it's easy to see why so many tyres are discarded. When we drive a car, we create pollution. When a tyre is finished, we can't burn or bury it. It's very hard to eliminate and very harmful to the environment," he stresses. "This way, it becomes a comfortable chair and one that's easy to move around as you can deflate it. You can also wash and change the cover when it gets dirty."

Kupluthai Pungkanon

The Nation