For a designer in training, it's not always easy to implement projects in which design is useful for building methods and tools that enable him or her to interface with other disciplines (in this case, biology), but also to co-construct hypotheses for solutions to major future challenges (whether environmental or social, in this case linked to tomorrow's food), founded in science thanks to this interdisciplinarity.
The Research and (eco)Innovation seminar series has been designed to meet these needs.
Conducted with future food designers at the École de design Nantes Atlantique, it takes the holothurian as a starting point for reflection. This marine animal, a member of the echinoderm phylum with numerous “superpowers”, plays a crucial ecological role as a detritivore - in other words, it maintains the habitats of numerous underwater species. This enigmatic animal is widely fished and consumed in some parts of the world, leading to the near-extinction of certain species.
As part of an R&I approach rooted in the theme of food, and in order to combat the overexploitation / even extinction of sea cucumbers, the students were able to devise ingenious and innovative devices (i) to combat poaching; (ii) tools for collecting and aggregating underwater data to fuel scientific research into this organism; (iii) integrated multi-trophic aquaculture systems to avoid drawing on wild resources; (iv) recipes to enhance the value of every part of the animal raised in this way, with no waste; (v) holocomposting systems.
Despite the complexity of the subject and the educational objectives (introducing designers to Research & (eco)Innovation), the results were of a high standard.