Ch23. Unwrapping CMF Design on From Eco-Friendliness to Sustainability

Environmental protection has been a long-standing topic in CMF Design, but its focus slowly evolves as time passes by.

In the early days, we would usually use “eco-friendly” as the keyword, that is, natural materials such as wood. However, after realizing that we cannot take away plastic from modern life, the focus of the discussion has evolved into the “sustainability” of material usage. (中文版)

CMF is a specific discipline within industrial design that focuses on the development of a product’s color, material, and finish. Unwrap CMF shares bite-sized stories of CMF Design to inform and inspire those interested in this niche yet fascinating field, with digestible contents for anyone and everyone.

Sustainability is a broad genre. There are many possibilities at the implementation level: natural materials, material repurpose (such as coffee grounds, pineapple fibers, etc.), material recycling, energy reduction during manufacturing, etc.

However, the biggest challenge is the speed of popularity. Take bamboo fiber as an example: since its official appearance in the early 2000’s, it hasn’t been popularized in the consumer market until the past few years. Even so, due to its material property, bamboo fiber is still rejected by industries of strict testing standards.

Popularization in manufacturing is just as challenging. Taking mobile phone industry as another example. Although water-based paint has been widely used on other products, it is hardly implementable in the mobile phone industry. In this industry that traditionally uses oil-based paint, to switch to water-based paint, the transportation, storage, and production lines all have to be reconstructed.

Neither eco-friendliness or sustainability is an easy path. It requires all of us to work together, and that means the manufacturers, designers, and consumers.

Lastly, let’s look at it from a different angle: the evolution from eco-friendliness to sustainability is a vivid example of changes in consumer trends.

I won’t dive into trend forecasting this time, but let me throw out a question to think about: if standing in the time of 2000, would you agree more with “zero plastic” or “plastic recycling and repurpose”?

Environmental protection includes but not limited to use of natural materials, recycling, energy reduction during manufacturing, etc. (Photo taken at Sustainable Material Library by 𝗨𝗡𝗪𝗥𝗔𝗣 𝗖𝗠𝗙.)

In the earlier time, environmental awareness was limited to non-manmade materials such as wood.

And then environmental awareness began to extend to the idea of material recycling, such as floor mats made of recycled tires. (Photo taken at Sustainable Material Library by 𝗨𝗡𝗪𝗥𝗔𝗣 𝗖𝗠𝗙.)

Various applications of recycled ocean waste through hot pressing. (Photo taken at Sustainable Material Library by 𝗨𝗡𝗪𝗥𝗔𝗣 𝗖𝗠𝗙.)

Bamboo fiber is a well-developed organic material. Lately, we are also seeing innovations with coffee grounds, pineapple fiber, etc. (Octagonal plate made of bamboo fiber by TZULAï.)

Enjoy learning? Use the CMF terminologies mentioned above and continue on with your own research journey on the web. Comments and inspirations are welcome!
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