ReLife 100% Recycled Pavilion Design by Kevin Chu

---

DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?

KC : Our firm has designed exhibition booths around the world and everytime after only 4 days of pristine exhibition all of them are dismantled and discarded as waste material. We always think this is such a waste of resources so when we were contacted by our client to design a booth for the Shanghai Design Week 2018 we decided to use as much recycled material as possible while also donating parts of the design to interested parties to take away after the show was finished.

DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?

KC : Our mission was to create a booth that uses as much recycle material as possible while still retaining a pleasing and innovative design aesthetic. That is why when sourcing material around china we came across a dead birch collection depot and we decided to use some of the tree scraps for our design before they are discarded into landfills or burnt.

DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?

KC : Our firm has always work with using recycle elements and material for design so this is a standard process we will employ with many future designs.

DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?

KC : Idea conception to built took around 3 months.

DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?

KC : It was commissioned by a client of us with blank canvas on design execution.

DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?

KC : The design is a one off concept but can be adapted to many situations or projects. So we are happy to discuss further to adapt this concept.

DI: What made you design this particular type of work?

KC : As a lover of nature i see our environment being eroded year after year, especially many places i visited since my childhood does not resemble any traces of their past beauty. This made me started my firm to be entirely focus on environmental or biophilia designs.

DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?

KC : Actually my wife and my new born was my biggest inspiration as my wife has always been my muse in many of our nature adventures and my new kid was a catalyst for me to consider designing projects that can improve the health of the planet. I don't particularly like to look or be inspired by other designers as i try to keep my work as original as possible.

DI: Who is the target customer for his design?

KC : I suppose people who appreciate innovative aesthetics, a sense of sculptural quality in design as well as anyone who want to preserve our environment.

DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?

KC : As far as we know not many exhibition booth designs employ as much time and effort in the the execution of sustainable and recycle material as they usually only last for 3-4 days.

DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?

KC : Since we are recycling discarded materials and objects for the design, i see it appropriate to made up a new word for this concept call RE-Life. It is a tribute to the idea that all objects , even discarded, when use wisely and creatively, can transform into something artistic and pleasing for the masses.

DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?

KC : AUTOCAD, 3D Studio Max, 3D printing

DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?

KC : The reverse suspension of 35 dead birch tress, painted in low emission white paint to recreate the light filtration aesthetic of foliage covering in a forest.

DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?

KC : We work with several contractors for the execution and engineering of the booth design.

DI: What is the role of technology in this particular design?

KC : I think this design is more "Anti-Technology"

DI: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?

KC : No we did not use any data research, only our optical observation on what we can re-use!!!

DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?

KC : The main challenge was trying to find the correct birch trees and recycled steel beams for the construction of our booth.

DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?

KC : We have been regular participants on many design awards as it is a great tool for marketing and networking. A Design Award being my annual submission schedule for all my new designs!

DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?

KC : I think it is not just an award that make you improve but what you encounter in everyday situations that drives you to make the design/product better. We get many opinions and feedback from industry insider as well as clients and we always take this to improve our work. It is a never ending pursue in perfection that creates this drive for improving.

DI: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?

KC : none so far