Skip Conversations

Oliver Bishop

Designing is a tool for change. I rethink our interaction with spaces, objects and each other, exploring habits within society and how they can be exploited to create pro environmental behaviour change.

Skips offer fleeting chances for everyone to intervene in a material’s journey to landfill. This body of work makes use of materials found in skips as well as the framework the skip offers for claiming space, especially in packed urban environments.

The outcomes of this process are ‘events’ hosted in skips and made using materials found in skips. The found materials often inspire the event, for example, upon finding a table tennis table it was natural to set it up as an event. This is a nice way to work as it keeps the events as unexpected as the things that can be found in skips.

The events are location specific, designed to address what is lacking in an area and to engage people there. In recent years streets have become dominated by automobiles. The skip events create pockets of space in the city designed for people to use and enjoy.

Running alongside these events is the website ‘skipwaste.org.uk’. The function of the site is to list the materials currently in skips around London and to locate them. This information can be accessed by anyone thus encouraging people to make use of waste. As is often said, ‘one man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure.’ 

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