It’s exciting to see the recent progress.
Example: BMW presented it’s “i Vision Circular” at the IAA mobility 2021, made out of recycled materials. The vehicle is designed according to the principles of the circular economy throughout the entire design, development and manufacturing process. The design vision shows an outlook on a compact, fully electric vehicle with a focus on sustainability and luxury for the year 2040.
(see the full description => BMW Group)
Optimized for closed material cycles and aims to achieve a quota of 100 percent recycled materials or 100 percent recyclability, summing it up into the principles of circular design:
Re: think, Re: duce, Re: use and Re: cycle.
In general, materials are becoming more important than ever. Circular, smart surfaces, printable… simply: tailored for the right use case.
Beside the BMW “i Vision Circular”, some material ideas were shared like:
Bambooder a bamboo fiber based composite material, that can compete with steel, CFG or hemp.
Deserttex a vegan alternative to leather, made out of cacti.
Or Made of Air which is a carbon-negative material made of wood waste.
But we need more tailored materials that are printable and reusable.
Maybe self repairing or self sealing if necessary.
In UX we need different materials for interaction with the user. Touch sensitive, with or wo feedback. Sound reflecting or absorbing.
The challenge are also materials with increased durability for sharing use cases. The pandemic showed us also the importance of repellent, self disinfectant materials. More robust materials if we use UV-C for sanitization or heat treatment.
The future is fascinating…
