»TischCare« is an in-house waste disposal solution for dining tables, which is bolted directly beneath the tabletop. The system is designed as an accessible option for the catering sector, enabling waste and crumbs to be disposed of directly at the table with minimal effort.
Frida Klug x SPACE FOR NARRATIVES
Fotos: Dominik Antoni Krolikowski
»TischCare« can be pulled out from under the table, much like a drawer, and, by lifting the handle, is divided into a wide hand brush and a waste bin. When pulled out, an integrated locking mechanism ensures that the product cannot fall out either forwards or backwards. To empty or clean it, this lock can be released by lifting it slightly, allowing the storage box to be removed completely and cleaned with a cloth or the hand brush. The bristles are cleaned using a comb built into the drawer. The product’s materials are designed for durability: the broom consists of glazed beech wood and nylon bristles, whilst the body is formed from bent galvanised sheet steel. Measuring 25 cm x 17 cm x 6 cm, »TischCare« remains discreetly out of the way beneath the table edge until needed, without restricting guests’ legroom.
»Cobra« is a sweeping kit that redefines cleaning as a natural part of everyday life.
Yamuna Rösch x SPACE FOR NARRATIVES
Photos: Dominik Antoni Krolikowski
Instead of being tucked away in the broom closet, it remains a permanent feature in the living space, occupying a space at the intersection between tool and piece of furniture. A wall mount that also serves as a shelf anchors the product visibly in the room and extends its function beyond simply sweeping. Thanks to this fixed placement, Cobra is always within easy reach, making it easier to clean up messes immediately. Cleaning is no longer perceived as a tedious chore, but as a quick, intuitive action that integrates seamlessly into everyday life. This accessibility fosters shared responsibility and encourages natural, collaborative action. It encourages a shift in thinking and encourages discussion about the division of household tasks. The deliberate placement in the room and the distinctive design create an emotional value that establishes the sweeping set as an integral part of the living space. Durable materials and the option to replace the broom and dustpan further extend its lifespan. Cobra thus makes cleaning visible by integrating it spatially and mentally into everyday life.
»[Un]shine« is a refillable oil candle that can be filled with reused cooking oil, transforming waste into a valuable resource.
Lorena Droste
Fotos: Dominik-Antoni Krolikowski, Liliana Carls
In the EU, an average of two kilograms of candles per person are burned each year, while around 15 kilograms of cooking oil are used on average, much of which is discarded after cooking.
»[Un]shine« makes use of this waste and offers an alternative to fossil-based paraffin candles. The candle is designed to bring a subtle, warm light into any space. Even without a burning flame, it remains an elegant object and encourages a shift in thinking toward more sustainable lighting solutions.
»Pießkanne« is a speculative object and app that turns urine into fertilizer by enabling its collection and reuse in local nutrient cycles.
Max Popp
»Pießkanne« addresses a challenge in the nutrient cycle that arises as a side effect of modern agriculture and sanitation infrastructure. Put simply, we no longer relieve ourselves within the ecosystems that provide our food, thereby disrupting the natural nutrient cycle.
The term »sanitation transition« already encompasses various approaches to this issue, many of them on an industrial scale; however, the mixing of urine with feces and other wastewater remains a major obstacle. »Pießkanne« offers a playful reinterpretation of the Western urination ritual, placing the resource value of urine front and center.
It consists of a speculative ritual combining a physical object and a companion app: the object merges the functions of a watering can and a seated urinal, enabling the collection, dilution, temporary storage, and targeted application of urine.
The app provides information on nutrient content, assists in calculating fertilization amounts, and playfully encourages users to return as much urine as possible to the local ecosystem, replacing industrial and fossil-based fertilizers.
»Elbo« is an elbow-operated, touch-free waste bin system for public toilets that enables hygienic disposal of hygiene products and promotes cleaner sanitation in shared spaces.
Maike Burghoff
The elbow is increasingly being used as a hygienic alternative to the hand for everyday movements. The lever waste bin for public toilets picks up on this movement and makes it possible to dispose of hygiene products quickly and without touching them. It is positioned directly next to the toilet and can be operated comfortably while seated. With a slight backward movement of the arm, the user pushes the lever backwards, causing the flap and bin to swing forwards so that the waste can be dropped directly. When the arm is pulled back, the opening closes automatically. To empty, the flap is pulled forwards and the container is removed. A stop holds the corpus in position and makes the process easier. The lever waste bin not only makes it easier to dispose of waste when visiting the toilet, but also promotes hygienic behaviour in public spaces and helps to prevent unwanted waste disposal via the toilet.
»STITCHPUNK: INFUSED« explores labour as a form of knowledge, which is an overlooked resource in conversations about sustainability.
Li Actuallee
Photos: Katharina Ley
Developed by Li Actuallee during their SBYD Textile Residency, STITCHPUNK: INFUSED explores labour as a form of knowledge, which is an overlooked resource in conversations about sustainability. Although environmental narratives emphasise materials, they rarely acknowledge the bodies that gather, spin, dye, stitch and transport them. Li Actuallee’s work reveals this invisible labour. Using crochet and knitting techniques, as well as hand-built tools that deposit charcoal, pastel or ink, the textiles become records of gesture, fatigue, rhythm and interruption. Each mark is a trace of the body in time. The works unfold in ‚craft time‘: slow, non-linear and resistant to productivity norms. They are shaped by rest, repetition and emotional endurance. Drawing on Marx‘s writings about alienated labour and contemporary critiques of craft economies, the project reflects on how craft workers today must commodify both their identity and their time. By combining soft textile techniques with pigments that reference industrial labour, the work challenges the boundaries between ‚hard‘ and ‚soft‘, manual and emotional, and personal and political. Stitchpunk insists that labour remains visible – stained, marked and embodied. The work was presented at Museum Folkwang.
- This residency was part of SBYD, through which Folkwang University awards grants to international artists and designers invited to Essen to realise their own projects on site. In 2025, the programme’s third round was announced in India. In collaboration with Museum Folkwang and the Goethe-Institut Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore.
»Digital Compost Lab« explores how we can rethink digital excess as a regenerative resource.
Vinay Khare
Photos: Katharina Ley
Developed by Vinay Khare during his SBYD Tech Residency, the Digital Compost Lab investigates how we can make intangible digital decay tangible and meaningful while fostering a culture of mindful digital consumption. Through participatory interactions, digital media is transformed into evolving soundscapes, glitch art and cross-medium expressions, rethinking waste as a beginning rather than an endpoint. In a world of constant production, digital overproduction leaves invisible yet tangible traces, from server emissions to cognitive overload. The project is informed by the contrast between the cyclical biosphere, where waste becomes nourishment, and the largely linear anthroposphere, where production accumulates. The Digital Compost Lab is situated within this context and asks how we might rethink digital excess as a regenerative resource. Using analogue technologies such as cassettes and tape loops, as well as older technical processes, the work highlights the physical and temporal qualities of data that are often overlooked in the modern digital age. The work was presented at Museum Folkwang. - This residency was part of SBYD, through which Folkwang University awards grants to international artists and designers invited to Essen to realise their own projects on site. In 2025, the programme’s third round was announced in India. In collaboration with Museum Folkwang and the Goethe-Institut Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore.
Algae are considered one of the most promising resources of the future – they grow quickly, are nutrient-rich, and sustainable.
Arba Shabanaj x SPACE FOR FOOD
Photo Credits: Dominik Antoni Krolikowski
In a time when global food resources are becoming increasingly scarce and unstable, algae are gaining attention as an alternative source. Yet, they are still hardly anchored in Western food culture. This is where my project comes in: How can a forward-looking marine resource like algae be transformed into an everyday dish for Western tastes? The result is SeaPasta – a series of algae pasta, a matching sauce, and a reusable packaging and label system. The aim is to create a coherent overall experience that feels familiar while introducing new flavors. The algae pasta stands out through its distinct ocean flavor, its varied colors depending on the algae type, and a design that subtly evokes the sea. A complementary sauce and a baking mix based on algae powder complete the series, making algae an accessible and contemporary part of our diet.
Fruit gummies are among the most popular sweets in Germany. Algae, on the other hand, remain largely absent from Western eating habits—despite their remarkable nutrient content and sustainable cultivation potential.
Alginis bridge this gap: these innovative, vegan fruit gummies combine a beloved snack format with the health benefits of microalgae. This makes algae more accessible and allows consumers to enjoy tasty, nutrient-rich gummies without guilt. Alginis are available in three delicious flavors: Apple–Lemon, Apple–Ginger, Lime–Raspberry. Sweetened with agave syrup and flavored with real fruit juice, they are free from artificial additives. Their signature texture comes from agar-agar, a plant-based gelling agent derived from algae. The included microalgae Chlorella and Spirulina provide valuable nutrients such as natural vitamin B12, iron, selenium, and other trace elements – making them a smart addition to a plant-based diet.
Each flavor variant is uniquely shaped, inspired by the natural forms of macroalgae. Visually uniform in a deep black color, the gummies measure approximately 3.5 cm and weigh 1.5 g per piece. The packaging, made from cellophane and printed paper, features a minimalist black-and-white design and is fully biodegradable.
Under the title »ESSEN ESSEN«, Masatoshi Noguchi spent three months in Essen/Gelsenkirchen developing a site-specific project that explored the relationship between consumption, water balance, and environmental awareness.
Photos: Dominik Antoni Krolikowski, Masatoshi Noguchi, SBYD.SPACE
Playing on the double meaning of »Essen« – both city and food – he reflected artistically on human bodily cycles, ecological loops, and resource use. In Japan, it’s widely known that watermelon has diuretic/detoxifying properties.
Recipe: »You sweat, I sorbet« (Watermelon Rose Sorbet)
Yields: Approx. 1 litre Prep time: 15 minutes
Ingredients: – Seedless watermelon juice: 1 litre – Brown sugar: 11 teaspoons – Lime juice: 4 teaspoons – Rose water(Chtoura): 11 drops (Rose water has a strong scent, so use it sparingly.) – Salt: 1/5 – 1/4 teaspoon
Equipment: – Blender – Strainer – Ice cube molds
Instructions: 1 – Blend watermelon cubes until smooth, then strain to remove any seeds. Measure 1 liter of juice. 2 – Add brown sugar, lime juice, rose water, and salt to the watermelon juice. Blend again until the sugar is fully dissolved. 3 – Pour the mixture into ice cube molds and freeze until solid. 4 – Once frozen, remove cubes from molds. Blend or pulse in a food processor until it reaches a slushy, sorbet-like consistency. Serve immediately. 5 – Optional: Garnish with fresh mint, a sprinkle of cardamom powder, or a touch more salt or rose water.
The work was presented at the Gutes Klima Festival 2025 in cooperation with Bonnekamp-Stiftung and the Museum Folkwang at Zeche Carl. This residency was part of SBYD.SPACE, through which Folkwang University awards grants to international artists and designers invited to Essen to realise their own projects on site. In 2025, the programme’s second round was announced in Japan. In collaboration with Museum Folkwang and the Goethe-Institut Kyoto Villa Kamogawa, the thematic focus was developed and the grant recipients selected.
Paper leather is a vegan alternative to animal leather and can be dyed with pigments extracted from dye plants. These botanical dyes are known for their rich and long-lasting colours and have been used for thousands of years across cultures to colour textiles, food, and cosmetics. The guide encourages experimentation with local dye plants such as madder root, birch, or woad to create unique colour combinations. Unlike synthetic dyes, which are typically petroleum- or coal-based and have a significant environmental impact, natural dyes provide a renewable and resource-efficient alternative. The project combines traditional knowledge with contemporary design and promotes a resource-conscious design practice.
The KIOSK was a central element of the SBYD.SPACE exhibition at Dutch Design Week 2024. Designed by SPACE FOR NARRATIVES, it brought together key themes of the exhibition and engaged visitors with interactive features.
SPACE FOR NARRATIVES
Photos: SBYD
Like the rest of the exhibition furniture, its design consisted of prefabricated scaffold components combined with panels made from recycled plastic – sourced from old fridges and CD cases, provided by Polygood.
The KIOSK distributed zines by SBYD.SPACE, textile repair patches, and other giveaways. It also invited visitors to share their visions of a desirable future and leave them in a designated post box. On Saturday evenings, it served as a stage for talks and panels, while also offering ice cream made from insects and algae.
It is currently situated in the foyer of Folkwang University at the Zollverein World Heritage Site. There, it is used by different SPACES of the project in rotation, offering insights into sustainable design projects from diverse perspectives.
»Ignite the Light« is an interactive lamp that recalls the primal form of human light production: fire.
Maike Burghoff
Photos: Dominik-Antoni Krolikowski
Similar to a fire drill, a wooden rod is rotated between the hands, converting energy into light. Initially, a faint red glow appears, gradually intensifying into a bright, warm white light with continued rotation. About half a minute of turning provides the lamp with enough energy for 30 minutes of light. Once the stored energy is depleted, the light fades, making the process of energy generation and consumption tangible.
The »Bike Generator«, built by Folkwang students under the guidance of Kris De Decker and Marie Verdeil from Low-tech Magazine, is a human-powered energy system designed to generate electricity through pedalling.
LOW-TECH MAGAZINE: Kris De Decker Marie Verdeil
FOLKWANG STUDENTS: Maike Burghoff Sangwoo Cheon Riccarda Gumbinger Leonie Kohlenbach Joshua Lefnaer Marzieh Mokhtari Baghkomeh Nick Ruppel Yifei Shi
Photos: Dominik-Antoni Krolikowski
It aims to promote low-tech solutions that are environmentally sustainable and to foster reflections and discussions on energy use and generation.
The bike’s front wheel is connected to a generator that can power a variety of electronic devices. In the SBYD exhibition at Dutch Design Week, it is connected to a neon sign above the entrance of the exhibition, which visitors can power by pedalling.
»Eggshell Plant Pot« is a biodegradable pot made from discarded eggshells, designed to enrich soil and promote plant growth while reducing waste.
Lilli Seiler
Photos: Dominik-Antoni Krolikowski
In food production, eggshells are often discarded despite containing valuable minerals like calcium and micronutrients such as copper, iron, and zinc. This project explores eggshell-based biomaterials, focusing on recycling waste into a closed cycle. By processing eggshells into biodegradable pots using plaster moulds, these plant pots aim to enrich calcium-depleted soils and support plant growth.
Pulp moulding, the process used to make products like egg cartons, is a three-dimensional papermaking technique typically limited to large-scale industrial production
Max Popp
Photos: Emmélie Lempert, Theo Winter, SDYD
»Pulp Moulding from Batch Size 1« introduces an open-source tool designed to enable small-scale pulp moulding, using inexpensive 3D-printed mesh tooling. Water is drawn through the mesh, leaving the pulp fibres behind to form a solid layer. Beyond its educational and practical applications, the tool also serves as a platform for experimenting with other bio-based materials and sustainable coatings as alternatives to paper pulp.
»A Window Seat and the South Seas« is a design intervention inspired by a defective radiator controller at Folkwang University of the Arts.
Moritz Gremm
Photos: Dominik-Antoni Krolikowski, Moritz Gremm
For several years, this radiator has been running at its highest setting, with repair attempts proving unsuccessful. The project utilizes the excess heat and draws attention to this situation by transforming the space next to the radiator into a place to spend time – on a bench inspired by historical window seats, or on a cushion next to a textile palm tree, reminiscent of a tropical holiday. Huddled against the radiator, your thoughts wander into the distance, just like they do when you look out of the window or lie on the beach.
»The pop-up toilet« is a mobile urinal for people with vulvas that improves access to safe, hygienic, and sustainable sanitation in public spaces.
Celine Heier
The pop-up toilet is a mobile sanitation solution for people with vulvas that can be attached to trees or other stable objects using a tension strap. It was developed to improve access to toilets in public spaces and to provide a hygienic, practical alternative.
While people with penises often have easy access to urinals and public piss points outdoors, people with vulvas are often left searching for a toilet — frequently involving long waiting times, high costs, or unhygienic conditions. The pop-up toilet creates a protected, easily accessible space that can be used spontaneously and flexibly.
Ideal for festivals, park visits, or camping, it can be connected to a canister to help protect the environment. The urine can then be safely and responsibly disposed of through the sewage system. The urinal not only promotes greater equality in public spaces, but also offers a sustainable solution to an everyday problem.
»Shroom« is an indoor mushroom garden that offers a simple and aesthetically pleasing way to grow Lion’s Mane mushrooms at home.
Paul Hartmann
Photos: Paul Hartmann, SBYD
Renowned for their versatile texture and taste, Lion’s Mane mushrooms make an excellent meat or seafood alternative. Growing them at home not only reduces the need for transportation and packaging, but also has a lower carbon footprint compared to consuming meat or seafood. »Shroom« provides a reusable, visually appealing alternative to plastic grow bags, aiming to encourage and educate people about domestic mushroom cultivation.
