Design Center empowers designers through circular design challenge
THE Bakong Circular Design Challenge (CDC) wrapped up after two days of intensive mentoring sessions organized by the Design Center of the Philippines and co-facilitated by Circulo and Work in Progress. Ten teams participated in key sessions on design thinking, circular strategies, and effective business pitching to enrich their design solutions. These solutions centered on tapping the potential of a natural material native to the Philippines, bakong.
Design Center Executive Director Rhea Matute noted that bakong and its applications will be core to the innovation agenda that the Design Center and its partners are crafting. "Kudos to the participants who stepped up to the challenge to usher in a more responsive and circular mindset towards a better normal through design," she enthused.
Matute added that utilizing bakong also entails the transformation of agricultural waste and the default linear and extractive process of production. As such, farmers and locals in communities where the evergreen herb grows in abundance, particularly in Laguna De Cagayan Lake, formerly Bangalao Lake in Sta. Teresa, Cagayan, will be mobilized in the push toward sustainability and circularity.
Delantar noted. "Through the Bakong Circular Design Challenge, partner designers and innovators, and manufacturers, we are aiming to showcase how a material can potentially create a circular economy where the material thrives upholding the values of bakong."
"The two-day challenge culminated with the 10 finalists pitching their intended design solutions harnessing the nature of bakong. The concepts spanned textile research and development, healthcare, and acoustics, among others. After a rigorous and design-forward weekend, the Malayana, Modubako, and Brakong teams emerged as winners of the Circular Design Challenge.