Dealing with ethical issues by removing the use of animal leathers within the Fashion industry.
Marie Melcore is a material, textile and graphic designer. These three fields allow her to evolve in a transversal and multidisciplinary context.
By developing them through the biodesign prism, she addresses environmental issues and the relationship between living organisms and design.
Marie Melcore is a material, textile and graphic designer. These three fields allow her to evolve in a transversal and multidisciplinary context.
By developing them through the biodesign prism, she addresses environmental issues and the relationship between living organisms and design.
UNDER (THE) LINE
Graduation project
Category
Biodesign
Bioremediation | Air pollution
Carried out at
MA Biodesign
Central Saint Martins
University of the Arts London
Tutors
Nancy Diniz | Course Leader
MA Biodesign
Carole Collet | Professor in Design for Sustainable Futures
Victoria Geaney | Associate Lecturer Design Studios
Alice Taylor | Lecturer of Biology and Living Systems
Shem Johnson | Grow Lab Specialist Technician
Special mention
Jeremy Keenan | Specialist Technician Physical Computing CSM
Igor Pantic | Digital Specialist Technician CSM
Abdul Mohammed | Digital Specialist Technician CSM
Location
London — UK
Press mentions
MA Biodesign 001
UAL Showcase Portfolio
Tsinghua International Conference — Beijing, China
Isola District Design
— Milan, Italy
Fashion Crossover London
— London, UK
Future Materials Bank, part of Jan van Eyck Academie — Maastricht, The Netherlands
Climate Pioneers No. 14
— Switzerland
Exhibitions
Milan Design Week 2021
Category: Materialized
— Milan, Italy
Part of CSM Musem & Study collection — London, UK
Awards
Green Trail, Highly commended — by LVMH x Maison/0
Central Saint Martins Deans' Collection Award 2021
— by Academic Deans, CSM
Global Design Graduate Show, Shortlisted — by Arts Thread
Date
Sept. 2020 — June 2021
Bioremediating air pollution in indoor public and urban spaces through a self-sufficient filtration system able to reuse volatile pollutants as a resource for a new type of pigment.
At the convergence of biomimicry, material science, new systems thinking, and regenerative design, this project focuses on the bioremediation of air pollution within London Underground stations. The outcome is a design that transcends conventional filtration by harnessing air pollution as a source material for generating an innovative type of pigment. Employing a self-sustaining filtration system, the proposed urban furniture not only captures and stores pollutants but also repurposes them into pastel pigments.
This endeavor relies on technology and organic chemistry. By conceptualizing a design solution within the framework of a bio-circular economy, the process exclusively utilizes local, renewable, and bio-based resources. At the nanoscale level, the resulting material exhibits the capability to adsorb and retain air pollutants through a phenomenon known as physical adsorption.
To shape this concept, I worked on a parametric and computational design to devise a lattice structure tailor-made for Underground stations. In this context, the structure is adaptable and scalable based on the pollution levels of the surrounding environment. Following a two-month suspension within Underground stations, the furniture is primed for disassembly, with the reclaimed materials ready for repurposing as pastel pigments.
line_Marie_Melcore_23_JPG.jpg)
Pastels made from London Underground's air pollution | Pastels format: 10 x 1 cm | Packaging format: 11.5 x 6.5 x 6 cm | Structure format: 80 x 50 x 60 cm.

Bio-circular system thinking.




















Making process, set up in the London Underground, final output.





Awareness campaign printed on recycled metro newspapers.