Gather Round: Three Circular Economy Prototypes We Built in a Day

And we’re off to a rolling start!

It’s Saturday at 9am and the new IDEO London studio is buzzing with energy. Everything is ready to go — design briefs hang from the ceiling, worksheets, boards, post-its and sharpies have been distributed, prototyping materials are laid out, and twelve teams have been assembled.

Sixty people are ready to put on their designer-entrepreneur hats and build a venture concept following the principles of the circular economy — in just 8 hours.

Why are we here? To kick off our first Circular Economy Makeathon, a day of collaborative building in which we meet and evaluate candidates who will join the design sprints of our CoLab Platform in 2019. (Read more about the CoLab Makeathon and the CoLab Fellowship application process here.)

It’s a fast-paced and extremely fun process, and even though our Makeathoners are only with us for a day — and they’re building with people they just met — we’re always inspired by the unusual and creative solutions they’re able to come up with. Here are three provocative prototypes they built that use circular principles and give us a glimpse of how a more sustainable future might look.

AR Wardrobe

How might we design a way of repurposing event waste and merchandising?

AR Wardrobe revolutionizes the festival fashion scene, allowing digital native festival-goers to have unlimited garments without having to pack a thing. AR Wardrobe links with Spotify, and after ordering their festival ticket, customers receive their AR Wardrobe pack including a T-Shirt with their favorite band’s logo and a discrete QR logo. The accompanying app gives festival-goers instant access to wide catalogue of digital fashion or costumes that will be seen on screen whenever they are videoed or photographed.

This means that festival goers can have the most impressive outfits in pictures, on Instagram and Snapchat, but do not have to buy multiple outfits that invariably get left behind at festivals and are difficult to recycle or donate.

Flipside

How might we make the act of returning your old phone to its manufacturer for recycling ridiculously simple & convenient?

Flipside is a seamless phone return system, integrated into the unboxing experience of a new device. When a user is ready to set up their new phone by placing it in a redesigned iPhone box, the old phone hosts a eulogy of its time with the owner through a nostalgic slideshow with photos and songs, and informs its owner of its next life and the positive impact made by returning it to the manufacturer for recycling.

While the customer reminisces about their time together, all user data is transferred to the new phone and wiped from the old one, reassuring and incentivizing the trade-in of unused devices, preventing valuable materials from sitting idle in people’s drawers.

Soul Sense

How might we design a refilling system for the cosmetic industry leveraging the life-cycle of products and ingredients?

The Netflix of perfume, Soul Sense is a white-label refillable fragrance tablet technology and subscription service that provides personalized fragrances from sustainable sources.

Soul Sense is comprised of a new type of spray bottle that holds a refillable liquid fragrance base paired with concentrated fragrance tabs that insert into the spray bottle nozzle, allowing the user to swap scents without having to buy multiple full bottles of perfume that often expire before they are finished. Users also have access to an app that allows them to personalize their orders and receive advice on how to combine and use fragrances throughout the day to improve their mood and wellbeing.

The end is only the beginning

The CoLab Circular Economy portfolio brings together corporate members from complementary organizations across industries and value chains, experts, innovators, startups and, of course, our newly selected fellows!

Looking to build a more circular future with us?

We’re currently recruiting new members to join CoLab’s Circular Economy Portfolio for 2019. Please reach out here about membership.

Prospective fellows can sign up for our newsletter or watch our application page to stay up to date on when the next CoLab Makeathon is open for applications.