Katrine Hesseldahl

Katrine started her PhD project with the Burberry Material Futures Research Group (BMFRG) in 2019. The primary aim of her project is to establish a framework for designing consumer experiences that contribute to a circular economy by inviting and empowering consumers to participate in closing the material circles. She intends to establish this framework through a practice-based project, through designing a collection of key garments which are developed to work according to a circular model of manufacturing and use. By designing a collection of garments, she intends to map out the key moments in a product’s lifecycle where users can contribute to the circular flow. The resulting framework will take the form of a set of guidelines intended to inform future design practice. 

This project offers a circular alternative to fast-paced furniture consumption that is having a negative effect on the environment and putting strain on increasingly scarce resources. 

Different parts of products have different life expectancies, leading to products being discarded as soon as one part is broken or outdated. By changing perceptions of products from single composed entities, to connected layers with different life expectancies,  users have the possibility to renew and personalise their home without compromising the environment. 

This is expressed through a 'Logic of Layers' that separates products into fast and slow layers. Skin Layers are fast, customisable and should be super-recyclable. These are the outer layers of products that users frequently interact with, and in conventional products have the shortest life-expectancy. Base Layers are slow, and usually make up the inner parts of the product. They are resilient, long lasting and robust.