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BOTVID / with Johanna Pettersson
Packaging Design / Mid Sweden University, Sweden
The task was, through circular design, to develop a business concept from an item found at a landfill site. The purpose was to extend the life of the chosen item. At the landfill, in the Scandinavian city Sundsvall, we found many functional items and realized how many of these we are throwing away. Seeing the scale of the waste with your own eyes gives you an alarming sense of perspective. We then started to climb the various garbage mountains to find different items that we thought would have the potential to be reused which was the purpose of this assignment.
To find a shoe in a dump can be easy, but to find its supplemental shoe was a challenge. Our team finally found a pair of size 44 slippers which we then decided to work with. We remade the shoes and developed our business concept with them as the product.
Botvid is a Scandinavian Norse name which means - The healer of the forest. We felt this would be the perfect name for this project. The name represents the beautiful and untouched forest that once existed. This is a company that cares for the environment and which identifies the potential to extend the life of something still functional, in this case – shoes.
We were very conscious that our concept should promote environmental proficiency and circularity throughout the supply chain process. Therefore, we looked to create a packaging concept that would have a dual-purpose. This meant that both the shoe and shoebox would align with the principles of the circular economy. We designed the shoebox with a leather handle so the customer can carry the shoes back home without having to use a plastic bag. At home, this leather handle can be used as a hanger for the shelf this package can transform into. The leather used in the project comes from a leather coat bought from a secondhand store. Botvid is a company that wants to reuse material. The leather was used for the handle and the smaller strap inside the box, but also as the sole under the slippers. The final result was presented at a recycling festival at Mid Sweden University, where we held a short pitch for the visitors.
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