Design for Circularity through Aesthetic Surgery

This article introduces the term Aesthetic Surgery as a strategy for the designer to contribute to circular economy. Our aim is to discuss this strategy as a way for designers to employ their core competencies to create and innovate the potential of irrelevant materials (waste) through aesthetic means and a material-driven design process. We argue that designers have the skills and experience to seek opportunities in unwanted materials and keep them in a loop of relevance and at a high value. In recent years, mechanical recycling has been gaining footing in the industry. Recycling has, therefore, primarily been concerned with material recovery at fibre level. This can appear to be an easy way to continue business as usual. Yet, this approach is not suitable for all types of materials and material blends and requires further innovation to develop solutions for these situations. Furthermore, these recycling methods use external resources in the process of bringing the material to a point zero and do not utilize the existing parts, components and material qualities. At the same time, sustainable transition requires a break with traditions of large volume productions and fast fashion. Therefore, we argue that we need to broaden the understanding and perspective of recycling and upcycling. The research presented in this article explores fashion and textiles methods of working with aesthetics by proposing Aesthetic Surgery as a material-driven design strategy for recycling and upcycling. Working with aesthetics is well known as a powerful means to create desires and spark imaginations, in this article we suggest turning the attention towards these powerful aesthetic competencies to substantiate the potential of irrelevant (waste) materials. The discussion emerging from this practice-based research offers the potential to further explore the possibilities in design for circularity through an Aesthetic Surgery strategy which may empower designers to contribute to circular economy.