Be Open think tank

The Origami Bottle by startup company DiFOLD is a solution for those who would want to stop buying bottled water but finds it inconvenient to carry bulky empty reusable bottles around with them. What makes it unique is that it is designed to be collapsible, folding down to 20% of its original size when not in use. When you need to fold the bottle down, just unscrew the cap and push against the horizontal crease lines for the bottle collapse to a nice portable puck, so it can easily fit in the smallest of handbags or just be carried around as a keyring - the design features an integrated carry-ring too! When entirely expanded, the bottle can accommodate 750 ml water. Its curved walls which become robust when the bottle’s opened out let it remain rigid and upright. The fold lines that allow the bottle to collapse and expand form a distinctive pattern on the bottle’s sides that makes it stand out. Find more convenient reusable water bottles in our blog.beopenfuture.com

“Nothing is as it seems,” is the motto of Italian jewelry brand Corsari Jewels that takes inspiration from the classic designs and reimagines them in resin as a way to celebrate a new idea of preciousness.   What at first glances looks like hard and heavy precious stones turns out to be light and semi-rigid gems of inedible polyurethane resin. The gems whose shine resembles that of natural stones because of the characteristics of the material are connected to one another with a transparent layer of soft resin, so that each jewelry item – be it earrings, necklace or bracelet – comes in one piece. All products are hand-made and environmentally friendly. More unconventional jewelry in our blog.beopenfuture.com

Vollebak, an experimental start-up clothing company founded by twin brothers Nick and Steve Tidball, has created the Garbage Watch made entirely out of electronic waste. Impressed by the fact that 50 tons of e-waste is generated annually, with many of the world’s precious metals like silver, platinum, copper, nickel, cobalt, aluminum, and zinc being a part of it, the team started figuring out how to re-use the stuff instead. That is why every single detail of the Garbage Watch is reclaimed from e-waste: a motherboard from your computer, a microchip in your smartphone, or wiring from your TV. The watch has a skeleton dial, which makes the colourful components inside visible, while mismatched screws and dials together with the wristband made of wires ensure a unique appearance of the product. The Garbage Watch is set to be launched in 2021, with the waiting list now open. If repurposing is your passion too, do not hesitate to join our #BEOPENBetterWay open call. Share your visuals telling the world about the better ways to treat things you no longer need than simply tossing them into trash – and be the one to win €300. Rules: beopensocial.com vollebak.com

#BeOpenARCH Cortex Shelter by Amsterdam-based conceptual architecture studio Cutwork is one of the latest proposals for refugee housing. The design encompasses a ‘just-add-water’ concrete shelter that would require no skilled labor to build and can last up to 30 years, which potentially makes it a better option to the currently used tent refugee camps. The structure would be built with Cortex Composites, a type of flatpack concrete sheeting that can be rolled over the frame of bent metallic tubes and set into a permanent form by adding water. After the concrete textile is hydrated, the water soluble fabric holding it disintegrates, leaving behind concrete reinforced by a framework of 3D matting. It takes two people and just a day to build the structure. The concrete shell then hardens in 24 hours. More rapidly deployable shelter systems in our blog.beopenfuture.com

Studio Bel & Bel, headed by Carles Bel and Jesus Bel (not related in any way), is known as a designer brand recycling classic vehicles into innovative and functional pieces. Their Scooter Chair is 100% handmade from reused Vespa and Piaggio parts previously restored. With reclining features, top quality imitation and natural leather upholstery and functioning taillights, these brightly colored swivel chairs can be fully customized to the user’s needs and tastes. For greater comfort, the chair has an adjustable height piston with a reclining mechanism, whose lever is a brake pedal. Through the perfect balance between romanticism of the vintage vehicles, and the avant-garde contemporary design, the Scooter Chair gives second life to the legendary scooter created by Corradino D’Ascanio. www.belybel.com We invite creatives willing to find new ways of using things that would otherwise be discarded to join our #BEOPENBetterWay Instagram challenge presenting an opportunity to win €300. Full rules: beopensocial.com

Danish design start-up Stykka has developed a temporary cardboard desk for those who otherwise doesn’t have sufficient desk space to work from home, as it happened with many people during the lockdown caused by the coronavirus crisis. Called the #StayTheFuckHome Desk, in reference to a social media hashtag that has been used to promote self-isolation, Stykka’s solution is a temporary flatpack workstation that can be easily assembled out of three pieces of cardboard held together using cable ties. The desk can be either purchased from Stykka who utilize cardboard sourced from a Danish facility that uses over 80 per cent recycled fibres for its production - or laser cut it themselves, as the design is an open source and can be downloaded from the studio’s website. More amazing household objects made of cardboard in our blog.beopenfuture.com

Heatherwick Studio, the British practice founded by Thomas Heatherwick, has completed a Maggie's Centre Leeds, one of the institutions of the charitable network providing practical and emotional support to people affected by cancer. Aiming to develop a soulful and welcoming building, the designers used only natural sustainable materials, topped the centre with grassy gardens and filled the timber interiors with plants. The building encompasses three mushroom-shaped volumes, whose framework is made from prefabricated parts of sustainably sourced spruce wood. The centrally located counselling rooms are surrounded by communal areas that include including a kitchen, lounge and exercise room unfolding under the curving timber gills. The planting scheme that uses species native to the woodlands of Yorkshire was developed by landscape designers Balston Agius. More noteworthy Maggie’s Centres in our blog.beopenfuture.com

Guangzhou-based Bentu Design Studio has created a collection of lamps, aptly named ‘Recycle Series’, utilizing recovered construction waste that accounts for 30-40% of total municipal waste worldwide. The studio turns construction concrete that would otherwise end in a landfill reducing soil and air quality into aesthetically pleasing useful and sustainable objects. The collection includes pendant lights that come in two options – square ‘Dian’ and rounded ‘Kui’ – and a playful ‘Luan’ table lamp that wobbles back and forth. All items feature characteristic rugged texture that is beautifully integrated with light. behance.net/bentudesign Start recycling out-of-the-box now and this will be awarded! Share your forward-thinking sustainable ideas with the community by joining our #BEOPENBetterWay Instagram open call for visual responses and win €300. Full rules: beopensocial.com

Hundreds of architects from all over the world participated in a design competition for a project of a secondary school in Benga Parish in Malawi, with a brief calling for a solution that would include a variety of spaces, allow to build gradually over years and make use of local materials and construction techniques. The bold design proposal by Indian architecture office Nudes, led by Nuru Karim, encompasses a modular timber framework and curved walls made from straw bales. The concept is based on a modular structure of ladder-like wooden A-frames arranged linearly to create forms varying in height and width. The building's outer shell is formed by hay bales supported by horizontal treads. According to the architects, thorough research was conducted into the possibility of using straw bales as a construction material in terms of fire resistance and structural performance. Other proposals for Benga School in our blog.beopenfuture.com

Italian designer Libero Rutilo has created a collection of 3D printed Silhouette vases utilizing repurposed plastic bottles. The vases represent external shell-like structures with an inner neck fillet that can be screwed onto a bottle like a cap, so that the containers are hidden under the visually appealing biomorphic mesh. The vases are designed to fit 0.5 l PET bottles and commonly used PCO bottle neck openings, giving a new sense of purpose to otherwise unused beverage containers. The collection includes four different designs. The Spider Vase is the most organic piece, the Sinuous Vase has undulating curves forming a wavy pattern, the classic the Lace Vase resembles an amphora covered with a crochet-inspired pattern, while the pattern of the Knitted Vase, as its name suggests, emphasizes extraordinarily fine details. Other applications for repurposed PET bottles in our blog.beopenfuture.com Join our #BEOPENBetterWay Instagram challenge, share your visuals that show how things can be given a new life through repurposing and upcycling, and maybe you will be the one to win €300. Rules: besopensocial.com