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Abstract:

The problems of our changing world, such as climate change, overpopulation, the consumption of the Earth's scarce resources, and waste issues, are affecting the traditional role of designers. Environmental issues will guide designers' work more than anything else has in recent decades. It will be shifting designers from being producers of goods to representatives of transformative power, who develop new and innovative solutions, services, and materials to build a more sustainable future. This thesis delves into the possibilities of biodesign, focusing on the fiber plants found on the roadsides of Finland as materials for the future. Environmental issues will guide designers' work more than anything else has in recent decades. Currently, the vegetation along Finnish roadsides is not utilized at all, even though it is mowed twice a year for traffic safety reasons. According to studies addressed in this thesis, it would be beneficial to mow the roadsides only once, at the end of summer, and to collect the mowing waste to increase the area's biodiversity and improve the soil. The mowing waste has the potential to be an ecological material, but its use is limited by the emissions from traffic it contains. An experimental material study was conducted to familiarize with the plants and their fibers found on the roadsides. Plants were collected from various parts of Finland. The processing of the materials was kept as simple as possible, using basic tools and methods that correlate with the modest nature of the material. Fibers were extracted from the plants and their properties were assessed based on predefined criteria. Information was gathered on a total of 26 plants, and they were compared to each other. The thesis compares personal research and observations with existing biodesign projects and compares personal experiences with those of others working with local natural materials through literature. Based on the results of the material study, five roadside plants were selected for closer examination in the production part: lupine, fireweed, cattail, dandelion, and common reed. The work with these plants took their properties into account. The final result consisted of works that comment on both the use of materials and their possibilities.