MARIE NILSSON

Love, Peace & Sharing

Industrial Design and Sustainable Consumption

Master thesis created in 2008.

School of Industrial Design, Lund University.

This project was initiated because the level of consumption has increased rapidly in the last century with enormous negative consequences for how we use our planet’s resources. The economical system forces and encourages us to consume more and more. This is not ecologically, economically or socially sustainable. People in rich countries with high material standards are less happy even though they can buy everything they need or wish. The consumption culture creates a need for a calmer, more meaningful everyday life.

The goal of this project was to create a vision of a sustainable lifestyle; another way to relate to consumption with more room for immaterial and emotional values; a reflection over the role of industrial design in relation to consumption and for creating a sustainable basis for the design process.

My aim was also to find a personal way to relate to these matters and create a foundation for my future work as an industrial designer.

Download report here >

Read review written by professor Dick Urban Westbro >

The result is divided in three parts:

1. The Concept of Sharing

A holistic approach to sharing that symbolises a humanistic and generous view of our fellow humans and society. To survive we have to learn to share things with others from sharing books and meals to all the resources of our globe. By sharing, individual consumption decreases and we do not need to sacrifice to be sustainable. The potential of sharing products is much disregarded in marketing and design today. It can be a powerful tool to find a more balanced level of consumption. It can also create opportunities for entrepreneurship and new business concepts.

2. The Modern Collective

Collective living has a high potential of sustainability and creates conditions for sharing resources, energy and products. It provides a sense of social belonging which strengthens our identity thus creating good conditions for more sustainable consumption patterns. Modernising and profiling collective houses will increase its attractiveness to a wide group of people.

3. Design for Sharing

I have defined six guiding principles to assist industrial designers in integrating sustainable consumption and sharing into the design process. The principles can be introduced in discussions with clients and be used in the design work.