Degree exhibition in industrial design

Fredrik Palmebäck comes from Nyköping and earlier worked as a salesperson of electronic products in Oslo.

“I saw a great waste of resources and I was selling the products that I really wanted to help to develop.”

Soon, we will need to adapt to new circumstances and there is no getting around that fact Fredrik says. He has worked with disposable grills that he sees as an incredibly unsustainable product. In Sweden alone, 500 000 disposable grills are sold annually, and for their production we use 46.5 tons of aluminium.

“Nothing is good about this process: the production isn’t good; the result isn’t good; how we handle the product afterwards isn’t good, so to import this product is completely irrational.”

Fredrik’s solution is a rental system for grills in parks and other public places where people usually use disposable grills. The cycle is closed as the grills can be rented again and again. This grill is designed to be as safe as possible. The system is locked when there is a fire hazard. Moreover, the grill is higher, can be moved around and can be easily lifted to empty it from charcoal ash.

“I definitely feel that I have gained a high competence in this field; an industrial designer specialized in sustainability directly meets future challenges.”

Fredrik will start working as industrial designer directly and is looking forward to that very much.

Helena Edqvist’s degree project started when she read an article about the fact we burn more than one thousand tons of Swedish wool every year.

“It felt absurd that we throw away and burn our wool.”

Helena says that she was interested in finding new qualities in the sensual experiences of wool, how the material makes us feel.

For this purpose, she developed 88 different wool samples that people can interact with and explain how they experience them.

“I wanted to find out if wool could surprise me. I came to the result that wool in fact has completely different emotional values than what I, and many others, thought.”

After having developed these abstract experiences of wool, she will now move on to the next step which is to develop a product.

“We need to stimulate interest in wool. Here, we need to think outside the box and find other uses.”

All courses in the programme contained a thread of sustainability, and she feels that this is a good ground for sustainability work.

“This was one of the reasons why I chose this programme; I feel as if I am at the forefront. In August, I will participate in an event in Varberg with my degree project. I will talk about wool and about sustainability,” Helena Edqvist concludes.

The study programme in Industrial Design in Gävle

The programme in Industrial Design is both creative and technical. During three years, the students are trained in design methods via many practical projects in which the design process is directly applicable. The focus on a sustainable development, for society, for humans and for the environment, is pervasive.

These years now culminate in a degree project exhibition where the graduates from the programme show their degree projects in industrial design to the public.

Welcome!