Circular Design
The final thirteen products developed throughout the Circular Design learning program were exhibited publicly during Fatasmeem's Silsal exhibition at the Ballroom Blitz in Beirut. The program's participants physically attended the exhibition and had the unique opportunity to showcase their work, exchange knowledge and ideas with peers and network with relevant stakeholders from the entire region.
Ala' Janbek & Hala Balaa
LightPulp
Mirabilis Jalapa, or ‘beauty of the night’, is a flower that served as inspiration for the paper clay lampshades. Paper is a versatile material easily found all around us. On average, each person uses 50KG of paper every year
The production process explored several recipes to produce paper clay from recycled paper. The designers aimed to use only organic and natural materials in their final recipe, which was a huge challenge to fulfil. The clay is made of recycled paper, rice glue and was dyed using natural colours.
Ala' Janbek
Ala Janbek:
Ala’ is an architect from Jordan who is passionate about sustainability and Earth. She started her own little business making handmade recycled paper in 2020. Now she is further exploring the possibilities of paper and working as an innovative education mentor at Ruwwad Innovation Space.
Hala Balaa
Trained as an architect, Hala is a highly enthusiastic and motivated change maker aiming to innovate in the various disciplines of architecture and design. She is the founder of Pulp. Pulp creates low impact building material from non-recyclable paper waste and ranked among the top 3 solutions in the regional pitching stage of the Youth Leadership Program implemented by the UNDP. Hala is interested in the interactive design of spaces, and the connection between good design and well-being, as well as the new programmatic combinations in architecture. She is also pursuing my graduate degree in Islamic art and architecture.
Albatol Al-Sarraf
TALU
High quality raw materials such as palm fronds are easily found in Iraq. TALU utilises these materials to create products that combine culture with sustainability in order to avoid the use of imported plastic. The project is circular in that the materials are taken from nature, the products (baskets and bags) are designed for multi-purpose use and can eventually be reabsorbed by nature.
Albatol Al-Sarraf
Albatool is a computer engineer who is very passionate about the environment and about leading a sustainable lifestyle. In the Circular Design program she expanded her vision to redesign & develop local eco-friendly products.
AlHakkam Falih Hassan
Feathersable
Feathersable develops building units for insulation, made from a Lime-chicken feather mixture. Feathers have high insulation properties and are a biodegradable material that is usually discarded in landfills. Lime is a negative CO2 material that absorbs CO2 during its processing. The Feathersable building units are produced to be eco-friendly, biodegradable and guarantee high thermal and acoustic insulation.
AlHakkam Falih Hassan
Al Hakkam is a mechanical engineer from Mosul, Iraq, who is specialised in 3D printing and CNC machines. He currently works as a digital manufacturing engineer in the maker space of Mosul.
Chantal Mhanna
Olba
Olba ceramic is a food preservation project that understands the different needs and treatment for different groceries outside of the fridge.
Olba keeps produce and bread fresh for longer by offering an alternative storing unit that reduces organic waste and supports a resource-saving lifestyle.
To store produce and bread, 3 different stackable ceramic compartments are each dedicated to a food group requiring a similar storing environment.
Chantal Mhanna
Chantal is a service designer and architect with a human-centred approach. She works in customer experience, design research and implementations of innovative design strategies. Chantal is also the Strategic Design Lead for Niche, a start-up that connects makers and businesses interested in products with cultural and environmental impact.
Charbel Sayah
Louvati
Valorising agricultural waste and giving it alternative uses in our daily life creates more cyclical approaches to waste management. Organic waste such as that coming from sugarcane pressing, black tea leaves, and orange peels is found in large quantities across the region.
Louvati are natural kitchen sponges whose properties are high absorbance, eco-friendly and home compostable. They have been designed with the intention to keep a healthy environment for the coming generations by creating sustainable and environmental products that replace fossil-based products like traditional sponges.
Charbel Sayah
Charbel Sayah studied Agricultural engineering in Lebanon, followed by a master of Bio-Based Materials in The Netherlands. Currently, he is pursuing a master in Entrepreneurship and Management of Innovative Projects in Paris.
Ghanwa Kataya & Iman Najjar
OR-TRAY
OR-TRAY is a project that seeks to decrease the garbage produced during flights, particularly plastic waste and reduce carbon emissions by offering lightweight products and improve user satisfaction.
OR-TRAY develops products and packaging for the meals served during flights, such as cups and plates from organic waste (e.g. orange peels). These products can subsequently be composted and thereby become fertilisers for e.g. new orange trees. In addition to thus being a 100% degradable, the items such as the gelatine spoon offer different flavours and thereby enrich consumer experiences when eating their meals during flights.
Ghanwa Kataya
Ghenwa is an environmental engineer and a biochemist, who is also the co-founder of a start-up that seeks to valorize biomass. Ghenwa has always been passionate about biomaterialsand is currently working on the valorization of biomass residue into higher-value products with multiple purposes.
Iman Najjar
Iman is a Lebanese architect and the co-founder of Infrastic, a building material technology that aims to rethink Plastic waste in construction. She obtained her BA at the Beirut Arab University and is now pursuing her Master in Business. Iman has always been interested in sustainability, green buildings and entrepreneurship. The question that motivates her work is: "What kind of environment do we owe future generations?"
Mohamad Chalabi
Biocraft
"Biocraft" is a project to produce handmade, plant-based paper products from "giant reed" plant that is naturally available across many areas in Lebanon all year round without the need for irrigation or energy to cultivate.
Mohamad Chalabi
Mohamad is an architect and entrepreneur from Lebanon. He has 19 years’ of experience in working within the built environment and rural development sectors. In 2013, Mohamad and his wife framed their family vision into a rural development initiative aiming to improve the quality of life for human development through the power of design, sustainability and art.
Niga Salam
Nene Textiles
Nene Textiles focuses on providing a longer life span to fabric that has already been produced. It comes from the need to maximise the possible use of fabrics which consumed too many resources in their initial production cycle. This project gives life to those remaining pieces by creating attractive and unique combinations.
Niga Salam
Niga Salam is an artist and photographer from Sulaymaniyah, Region of Kurdistan in Iraq. Facing different forms of oppression, she started questioning her own identity with a driving thirst for knowledge since she was young. This led her to explore arts and the humanities, culminating in a study of fine arts. By now, Niga is a known contemporary artist, whose projects raise critical questions, involving elements of research and journalism.
Reem Hilal
QuarryLess
Mass production thrives on concentrated excavations and manufacturing of natural materials in specific areas of land until depletion. Creation of cement, the second most consumed material after water, requires around 5 different quarries to then be transported through 5 different factories, to finally be available in the store next door. Does this really need to happen for us to build our lives? QuarryLess was designed as a tool to visualise available resources around us, to encourage dispersed collection of resources in sustainable quantities. QuarryLess also provides a platform for learning and exchanging know-how about different uses and applicabilities of available materials. This will slowly replace the need for big excavations and turn the focus to locally available resources.
Reem Hilal
Reem is an architect who graduated from the Lebanese American University in 2017. Shortly after, she founded “Hearth”, which is an applied concept combining Earth, Art, and the Heart. From there she started experimenting with and researching natural, and locally available materials.
Sarbast Burhan
Feathery Pillow
The idea for Feathery Pillow emerged, when Sarbast Burhan visited a chicken slaughterhouse and saw that chicken feathers were being thrown away without any use. Historically, feather pillows have always been considered a delicacy, so Feathery Pillow merged culture, sustainability and elegance in one home-grown product.
Sarbast Burhan
Sarbast holds a BA in biology, is certified and energetic and loves volunteering. He worked with companies and organizations both locally and internationally. He is also the owner and founder of many start-ups and participated in many professional international courses, programs and conference.
Sheelan Shaban
Natural pigments
“Natural Pigments” is all about colours and how they can be extracted from natural sources such as stones, leaves, flowers and spices to be used as replacements to toxic chemical materials and ingredients.
Sheelan Shaban
Sheelan is a 20-year-old biology student and artist who makes colours from earth pigments.
Sokar H Sharif
فخار
Fukhar (فخار), is the reviving of the old clay water bottle in line with the needs of the modern world. The aim of this product is to reduce the usage of disposable plastic water bottles and to increase the use of healthier, local materials that have a positive impact on the quality of the water they contain.
At the moment, there is a high dependency on disposable plastic water bottles in Erbil, Iraq, due to the unclean tap water. The unavailability of filters in most households especially the rental houses has led a huge number of people to use disposable water bottles that has a negative impact on the environment and their health.
The availability of clay as a local material and its capacity of serving as a sustainable and eco-friendly material makes it a perfect alternative to plastic. Using clay and combining it with wood powder gives the bottle the ability to filter water. Simultaneously, the clay keeps the water at a cooler temperature due to the nature of the material which is porous and lets movement of air through its walls.
Fukhar clay bottle has a second bowl under the main filtering part which stores the filtered water so that the users can open the attached faucet to get a filtered, rich of nutrient, and cooled down water.
Sokar H Sharif
Sokar is an architect, a design enthusiast, an environment lover, and a humanitarian worker. She is a firm believer in working in these areas and improving them. She believes that being part of the Circular Design program has helped her to broaden her knowledge and perspectives regarding sustainable designs. This has encouraged her to better understand environmental needs and explore different ways of using resources and materials to find solutions for current environmental challenges and smarter ways to perform our daily tasks.
Layan Al Nimer
Upcycling food waste
I got the inspiration for the “Upcycling food waste” project from people of different backgrounds from around the world trying to combat climate change, by reducing food waste. Having a background in hospitality management, I have experienced first-hand how tons and tons of food are being wasted every day. One-third of all food globally is being wasted, emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, while millions of people are hungry. However, these foods could still be consumed as they are still nutritious. Therefore, this project transforms wasted food into a valuable resource for either consumption or as a packaging material that could substitute plastic.
Layan Al Nimer
Layan has a background in hospitality management and business administration. She is a passionate and self-taught baker and pastry chef who seeks a practice in eco-preneurship through food.