Anna Quarles, a product design senior in the College of Design, prioritized sustainability in her final Soft Spaces class project last semester. With the help of Erin Geibel, recycling coordinator in Facilities Management, she transformed old t-shirts, blue wrap and grocery bags into a unique piece of children's furniture.
Throughout the class, Quarles worked on constructing and designing products through knitting, weaving and hand stitching. The class focused on creating soft furniture from several mediums. When faced with her final project, she wanted to work with abstract quilting and build a modular, useable piece of children’s furniture.
Quarles struggled to source enough desirable fabric in her brainstorming phase. Taking advice from Jennifer Meakins, assistant professor in the College of Design School of Interiors, Quarles reached out to Geibel in UK Recycling.
“Erin got back to me within two days. It was easy to work with UK Recycling to get the material that I needed,” Quarles said.
UK Recycling supplied unused, leftover K-Week t-shirts and blue wrap (aka sterilization wrap), which is the material used in hospitals to wrap surgical instrument trays and equipment for protection against contamination.Since 2015, UK Recycling has been collecting clean blue wrap from UK HealthCare. Although it looks like fabric, it is made from polypropylene plastic. In addition to the t-shirts and blue wrap, Quarles utilized stuffing and reused plastic grocery bags.
“I liked working with the limitation of the material, and it added more depth to the project,” she said. “Unlike other projects, the material came before I fully had an idea of what the furniture design would be. It was exciting tochallenge myself to work with what I had available.”
Quarles then moved to her ideation phase, trying out different shapes and materials. She ultimately ended on connecting four circular structures together with an empty space left in the middle to allow for separate pieces to thread together, creating a modular piece that can change based on different needs. Once the design was settled, Quarles spent much of her time making a large-scale prototype. It took her five hours alone to stuff the structure.
Quarles hopes the prototype can inspire different and unique pieces for children's furniture. For now, it has a home in the Gray Design Building on campus.
“As a prototype, I love it in this building where our students can experience it,” she said.
Throughout the entire process Quarles kept sustainability in mind and encourages students to utilize materials readily available around them and to get creative.
“I’ve been trying to focus on thrifting and learning more sustainable practices,” she said. “If you’re looking for unique materials, doing a project about sustainability or trying to save money, UK Recycling is a great resource to use.”
This project is just one example of how sustainability is taking shape on campus. For more information on other student recycling initiatives and efforts, visit recycleblue.uky.edu.
Anna Quarles, a product design senior in the College of Design, reused materials from UK Recycling to create a unique piece of children's furniture.
Bree Walton
Anna Quarles, a product design senior in the College of Design, designed the chair by connecting four circular structures together with an empty space left in the middle to allow for separate pieces to thread together, creating a modular piece that can change based on different needs.
Anna Quarles, a product design senior in the College of Design, prioritized sustainability in her final Soft Spaces class project last semester.