By Máté Bikkes | October 28, 2024
Back from ORGATEC in Cologne
Human Material Loop exhibited at ORGATEC 2024 in Cologne, one of the leading international trade fairs focused on the future of work, workplace design and commercial interiors.
ORGATEC brings together the global office, furniture, architecture and interior industries to explore how the spaces in which we work are changing. The 2024 edition welcomed around 50,000 visitors from 126 countries and 729 exhibitors.
For Human Material Loop, it was the perfect setting to ask a simple question: what if the waste we produce in our everyday lives could become the material surrounding us?
Our exhibition turned that question into an experience.
At the center of our stand was a fully operational hair salon. Visitors could sit down, get a haircut, and see firsthand where our raw material begins. The hair that would normally be swept from the floor and discarded became a contribution to a new material system.
Through ādara®, Human Material Loop transforms hair into high-performance keratin fibers that can be used for textile and interior applications.
Sometimes changing our relationship with materials begins with something as simple as a haircut.
The salon challenged the conventional relationship between people, waste and materials. Instead of simply observing a new material, visitors could become part of its story.
The response was remarkable. People left the chair with a fresh haircut and the knowledge that something they would normally discard could become a resource.
The installation was part of the Wherever Whenever Work Culture Festival by IBA at ORGATEC, curated by Marlies Bolhoven and Robert Thiemann.
